


The Purge

by Kit_Kat21



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Bodyguard, F/M, Purge Night (The Purge), Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kit_Kat21/pseuds/Kit_Kat21
Summary: “This is not a test. This is your Emergency Broadcast System. Announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use during the purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. when the purge concludes. Blessed be our new founding fathers and America… A nation reborn. May God be with you all.”...“Please don’t leave me.”The words fell from Sansa’s mouth because this man had come out here like so many others to exercise their right to purge but he had grabbed her and hid her from that truck of men instead of just letting God knows what happen to her and now, Sansa didn’t want to let this man out of her sight.On this night, no one saved anyone but this man with the skeleton mask, guns and bulletproof vest had taken the time to save her.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Comments: 627
Kudos: 572





	1. Chapter 1

…

**March 21 st – 5:05 p.m. – 1 hr. 55 minutes until Commencement **

Sansa Stark breathed with relief when her boss finally said “Alright”.

“I think we covered everything we needed to,” Petyr Baelish said through his computer’s camera. “I wanted to end to give you all plenty of time to do what you needed to before commencement.”

Just under two hours, Sansa frowned to herself. _Such_ a nice guy. Most offices closed at noon today to give their employees actual time to prepare but not Petyr Baelish. Confusing him for an actual nice and considerate boss was a mistake no one ever made.

Not that Sansa _ever_ would but it always surprised her that none of Mr. Baelish’s employees had ever tried to go after him on this night. For as wealthy as he was, his security system was probably top notch and getting to him would be just about impossible but still, it surprised Sansa that no one had ever attempted it.

“I hope you all have a good purge tonight and stay safe,” Petyr finished.

Everyone else on the call echoed with “Thank you” and “Stay safe” and Sansa ended the call with a sigh.

“Finally!” Her roommate and best friend, Beth Cassel, exclaimed from the kitchen. “Does he keep you on that long on purpose? There’s less than two hours left!”

“I’m convinced he does,” Sansa nodded as she responded to one last email before she began shutting down. The office was closed tomorrow – it always was the day after the annual Purge – but Sansa hated leaving things in her “to do” pile if it was easier – and possible – to finish everything up in time.

“Your phone’s been going crazy and the chili is just about done,” Beth said.

“It smells amazing,” Sansa smiled. She had a small desk in the corner of the living room where she sometimes worked from and she stood up now once everything was off and went to her cell phone, charging on the counter in the kitchen.

A slew of text messages from her mom were waiting for her.

Ned and Catelyn Stark’s home was outside of the city and they had invested in a top-of-the-line security system. Cameras, motion detectors, thick steel that came down at the push of the button and covered every door and window. It was for that reason that both liked to have their children with them on Purge night and her parents’ house was the only place Sansa ever wanted to be on this night.

Sansa had never gone purging and she never would. She didn’t believe in it and honestly, she felt like this one night where people “cleansed” themselves and unleased the beast, as the government described it, only made people that much more violent and it didn’t solve _anything_ no matter what the statistics claimed.

The messages from her mom were all about asking her where she was, if she was on her way, and so on and so on. Sansa looked to the time as she called her back. She would have time to pack a bag and eat one bowl of Beth’s delicious chili before getting on the road. Traffic was always a nightmare on this night – both with people fleeing and flooding into the city – and if she left closer to six, it might have died down a bit by then.

When she told Catelyn this, her mom seemed to – reluctantly – agree.

“Just don’t cut it _too_ close, sweetheart,” Catelyn said, her mother’s voice tight as it always was this day. She hated the Purge just as much as Sansa.

The year before, two of her five children, Robb and Arya, had gone out this night. Ned and Catelyn hadn’t stopped them. It was their right but it was a silent agreement that no one in the family talked about it. None of them asked what Robb and Arya had done and Robb and Arya had offered no details. Catelyn didn’t speak to either of them for the following week though.

Sansa wondered if any of her siblings were going out this year. She almost didn’t want to know though. Even if it was her right to do anything tonight, it wasn’t a right she _had_ to exercise.

“I won’t. I’ll be there soon. I love you,” Sansa said.

“I love you, too.”

Ending the call and seeing that her phone was completely charged, Sansa unplugged it and safely put it away into her purse on the dining table.

“Are you sure you just don’t want to stay here this year?” Beth asked, giving the chili one more stir. “I know it doesn’t sound like it but Margaery and Loras really do throw an awesome rooftop Purge party.”

Beth was right. It _didn’t_ sound like anything that would be remotely awesome.

Margaery and Loras Tyrell were a sister and brother who lived across the hallway from Beth and Sansa and every year, they had a party on the roof of their apartment building for everyone not participating in the Purge and where they could watch anything happening in the streets below. Beth went every year. Sansa did not. It felt strange to have a party on this night and to actually watch it as a spectator watching a sport.

“Harry said he’s going to be out, purging, for an hour or two and then he was going to be coming by so I won’t be alone tonight,” Beth continued. She ladled a large helping into Sansa’s waiting bowl and Sansa was grateful for the timing as she went to get the bag of shredded cheese from their refrigerator.

Beth and her boyfriend, Harry, had been dating for two years now and it wasn’t as if Sansa _hated_ him but she definitely thought that her best friend could do much, MUCH better than him. Again, Sansa would never participate in the Purge but silently, to herself, she had a list. She was sure plenty of people had a list. And Mr. Baelish and Harry were both on that list. There was just something about Harry. Sansa found him sometimes looking at her when he didn’t think that she or Beth would catch him doing so. He made her uncomfortable. And anytime he spent the night over here with Beth, Sansa made sure she was somewhere else – without making it so obvious that she was avoiding him.

“This is so good, Beth,” Sansa said after she took her first spoonful of chili, changing the subject.

Beth beamed, always pleased with a compliment over her chili.

Both girls leaned against the counter in the kitchen, eating their bowls of chili, quiet for a moment.

“You can always come to my parents with me,” Sansa then said. She told Beth this every year on this night.

“I know,” Beth gave her a small smile. “But I feel safe here. I really do. And… and I already hate the idea of you being out there, in your car, even if it’s before commencement. I wouldn’t be able to handle it myself.”

“You’re braver than you think,” Sansa gave her best friend a small smile.

Beth smiled and knocked Sansa gently with her elbow. “So are you.”

On annual Purge night, it was something they both had to be reminded of so they could both get through it.

…

**6:22 p.m. – 38 minutes until Commencement**

“You don’t have to come with me,” Jon said. His Northern Inuit dog, Ghost, stared at him and Jon gave a little smile. “I’ll be glad you’re with me.” Ghost swept his tail at that. “Let’s get you ready.”

Jon had already tested this vest on Ghost and Ghost now stood on all four legs as Jon went to get it from the closet. It was all black so Ghost would be able to meld into the darkness out there easier and there were pouches on either side. Once Jon had Ghost fastened into the vest, he made sure it wasn’t too tight on the dog’s body but tight enough where it didn’t loosen and fall off.

“Good boy.” Jon patted him and stood up again. “You let me know if it gets too heavy,” he then said. Ghost remained standing as Jon began to load magazine clips into the pouches of the vest. He didn’t know how many he would need tonight but too much ammunition would never be a bad thing. “Good?” He asked and Ghost’s tail swept back and forth to let him know that it was fine.

Jon then began to get himself ready. He had already had two cups of coffee and two cans of Red Bull that would keep his energy going until tomorrow morning and he could already feel it. He was jittery; anxious. Or maybe it was just because it was almost time and he was ready for it to get started.

He dressed himself in black jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt. He tied his hair back to keep it from his face and sat down on his bed to tug and tie his boots on tightly. He was just putting on the bullet proof vest he had gotten for himself when someone knocked on his door.

“Yeah!” He called out, standing up again.

Sam Tarly, his roommate, opened the door and once he saw Jon, he stopped himself in the frame.

Jon didn’t say anything as he continued suiting himself up. He fastened the sheath to his thigh that would hold the hunting knife and on his belt, he had a holster that held a handgun. And then, on his back, he strapped one of the rifles to him.

“You don’t have to do this,” Sam finally spoke.

“My mind’s made up, Sam,” Jon told him – _again_. Sam had been trying to talk him out of this since Jon made the decision the month before. “I should have done it sooner and you know that.”

Sam didn’t say anything to that. He was quiet, watching Jon. He cleared his throat. “I know tonight, it’s everyone’s right to purge and do what they want but I think if you do this, Jon, you won’t come back from it.” Jon was silent, looking himself in the mirror he had hanging on his closet door. He began moving, seeing how all of his weapons helped – or hindered – his body’s movements. He heard Sam but he was making an effort to not listen. “I know this is your right and you have every reason in the world to _want_ to do this but that doesn’t mean that you _need_ to or _should_ do this.”

Jon looked back to his roommate and closest friend and still didn’t say anything. The silence stretched for too long and Sam finally gave a soft sigh.

“I got you something. If I couldn’t talk you out of it, you could use it tonight but if I _could_ talk you out of it, there was always Halloween where this could be useful.” From behind his back, he produce the arm he had kept behind there and when Jon saw what was in his hand, he finally gave the smallest smile.

“Thanks, Sam.” Jon took the skeleton face mask and turned back towards the mirror. He put it on his head and then pulled it down over his face.

Jon’s smile grew a little bit more. It was perfect.

“Jon, be safe tonight,” Sam said and Jon turned back to him, pushing the mask to the top of his head.

“I will,” he promised. “You be safe, too.”

“I will.”

And Sam couldn’t stop himself from striding forward and engulfing Jon in a tight hug.

Outside of his bedroom, Gilly, Sam’s girlfriend was in the kitchen, straightening up from their dinner. Gilly didn’t live with them but she was over enough for her to. She came over every Purge. Sam and Jon lived in a building much more secure than hers – their expensive rent explaining that – and Gilly came over to be safe.

She looked at Jon now and without a word, she came straight for him. She hugged him long and tight.

“Be safe,” she whispered.

“You, too,” Jon said, giving her a lasting squeeze.

Jon didn’t say anything else to either of them. There was nothing else to say. His mind was made up and he knew that Sam and Gilly didn’t necessarily agree with the Purge – Jon didn’t either – but they understood why he was going to go do this tonight.

And while Jon didn’t particularly agree with the Purge and the idea behind it, tonight, he was grateful for it.

“Come on, Ghost,” Jon said and without even looking back to Sam and Gilly, he headed for the front door, Sam following behind him.

And as soon as Jon was out in the hallway with Ghost, he heard Sam close the door behind them both followed by the turn of all of the locks and the steel bolt sliding into place.

…

There was still enough sunlight for Sansa to see. There was glass and nails all over the road and all of her tires were flat. _Someone_ had put glass and nails all over the street for people to drive over.

Sansa’s theory of leaving closer to commencement had proven to not be true. Traffic had still been such a mess and sitting on the expressway when the Purge started was the absolute last place she wanted to be. The year before, seven o’clock had struck and a man – so frustrated with the traffic – had gotten out and just started shooting and killing people right there in their cars.

Sansa had managed to get herself off an exit ramp and she decided to take back roads from the city.

But now, all of her tires were flat and someone had purposely made them that way.

This was, put simply enough, not good. This was as far from good as something could be. Calling a tow truck, a taxi or an Uber were completely out of the question. Like fire, police and ambulance, they did not respond to the calls. Either their employees were out purging or they were locked up in their homes.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Sansa whispered to herself, about to start crying.

She was in the city, on Purge night. This was the absolute last place she would ever want to be tonight.

She had to get somewhere safe. Where that would be, she had no idea. Her mind was racing but no thought was taking root and holding. A safe place in the city to hide for the next twelve hours? She couldn’t go to a hospital. They locked down and allowed no one in. Same with police stations and firehouses. And she couldn’t hide in her car for the next twelve hours because whoever had put these all over the street, they would be nearby, ready for seven o’clock to strike before picking her off.

Sansa didn’t know where she was going but she had to leave this spot. Right now.

She reached into her car and grabbed her purse – more a messenger bag – and slung it across her chest. She made sure the doors were locked and the alarm was set – like that would matter – and then, she began to jog down the deserted street. At the moment, she was heading back towards hers and Beth’s apartment building. It was blocks and blocks away but maybe, she’d be able to find a spot to hide between here and there.

She jumped when the loudspeakers attached to most of the buildings suddenly screeched as they turned on.

“No, no, no,” Sansa’s eyes grew wetter and she pushed herself to run faster. Her heart was already pounding but it wasn’t from the exertion. It was from being terrified already. She was about to throw Beth’s chili up all over the street in front of her.

And then, the familiar female voice began broadcasting through the loudspeakers, echoing in the air.

_“This is not a test. This is your Emergency Broadcast System. Announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use during the purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. when the purge concludes. Blessed be our new founding fathers and America… A nation reborn. May God be with you all.”_

And then the sirens came, ear-splitting, blaring for all to hear them.

The Purge was starting.

Almost immediately, Sansa could hear people coming outside and she heard a vehicle behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was a pickup truck and she could see several men – all in masks – with guns, baseball bats and axes – standing up in the back bed, all shouting and hooting. She wondered if they were the ones responsible for her flat tires and if they had been watching her.

Sansa turned, cutting down another street, her eyes frantically searching for a place – _any_ place to duck into.

She screamed when suddenly, a hand shot out from nowhere and yanked her into an alley. Her eyes widened as she saw that it was a man in a skeleton mask and a white dog and she was about to scream again – not that it would do her any good – but the man put his hand over her mouth to silence her.

She screamed again against his hand when the man suddenly fired his gun at someone coming up the alley towards them and the man’s body crumpled to the ground.

Sansa began to struggle. She didn’t know what she would do if she would break free – she couldn’t run forever – but she was a Stark and her parents had raised her to always put up a fight.

The man, though, was immovable and he kept his hand over her mouth, his body pressing hers against the brick wall, watching as the truck that had been following her slowly drove past the alley, clearly looking for her. Sansa’s heart was pounding, her breath so fast, her lungs ached. She was going to die tonight. If not by the people in that truck, maybe by this man in front of her or by someone else.

Why hadn’t she stayed home with Beth? Why had she stayed on that call with Mr. Baelish instead of just signing out and getting to her parents’ house that much earlier? Who cared if she had gotten into trouble with her boss for it? Why, why, why?

The truck was gone, the man’s hand slowly dropped from her mouth and he shoved the mask that he was wearing off his face to the top of his head. Sansa looked at him. He wasn’t at all what she was expecting beneath the skeleton mask he wore. He was… handsome.

“What the Hell are you doing out here?” He whispered harshly.

“I thought I had time…” Sansa began to answer, gasping for air. “My car… all of the tires are flat.”

The man looked up and down the alley before looking at her again. There was a sudden explosion – somewhere not too far away – and Sansa jumped. The white beast next to him – who seemed more wolf than dog – also seemed to be on the lookout and he growled at the noise.

Sansa saw the gun the man was holding and there was another strapped to his back and she didn’t know anything about guns but she knew enough to see that these were big; meant to do the most damage.

It was no secret as to what this man was doing out here tonight.

He was going to purge.

But then why had he saved her?

He stared at her, studying her, and then he took a step back, swinging his gun up into both hands.

“Please don’t leave me.”

The words fell from Sansa’s mouth because this man had come out here like so many others to exercise their right to purge but he had grabbed her and hid her from that truck of men instead of just letting God knows what happen to her and now, Sansa didn’t want to let this man out of her sight.

On this night, no one saved anyone but this man with the skeleton mask, guns and bulletproof vest had taken the time to save her.

…

\- VIOLENCE warning in this clip but I wanted to give everyone an idea of commencement and the mood of the night I'm setting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely ADORE horror movies and I have been wanting to write a Jon/Sansa horror story for, literally, a couple of years. I actually don't like "The Purge" movies EXCEPT for "The Purge: Anarchy". This is one of those movies that doesn't deserve to be as good as it is.
> 
> This isn't going to be a long story. I know how many WIPs I actually have but this was in my system and I wanted it out of there.


	2. Chapter 2

…

“Just keep walking. Just keep walking, Jon. It has nothing to do with you. You’re not out here for this.”

Jon told himself this over and over again – a pep talk to keep him going – but the girl was running right in his direction and this was a girl who should not have been out here. This girl wasn’t out here to purge but for whatever reason, she was out here during the purge. She hadn’t seen Jon because as she ran, she kept looking over her shoulder. Someone was clearly after her and this girl was running for her life.

“Ignore it, Jon. Ignore it.”

He was out here for a reason and it had nothing to do with this girl.

At the last moment though, he wasn’t able to just keep walking. Instead, he slipped into an alley and grabbed her as she ran past. And then, _“Please don’t leave me.”_

“I can’t take you with me,” he shook his head, glancing out to the street before back at her.

Her eyes were brimming with tears and she was visibly shaking, scared out of her mind. They could both hear guns being fired in every direction and this girl never took her eyes off of him.

“Please,” she whispered that word again.

“Where do you live?” He asked even though he really didn’t want to know. This was going to mess his entire night – and his carefully laid plans – up.

“5th and Paxton,” she answered.

“Christ,” Jon said before he could stop.

That was nearly twelve blocks away. On this night, it might as well have been twelve miles. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t go so far out of his way to get this girl back home. It might not leave him any time. Going twelve blocks on a night like this, it could very well take him _all_ night.

Ghost began growling then, low and sudden, and Jon instantly gripped his gun, putting all of his attention on his dog and ignoring the girl for a moment. Ghost was facing forward, looking out of the alley to the street, and Jon stood as still as he could, waiting; listening.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the girl slowly reach into the bag she had slung across her chest and a moment later, she pulled out a compact. She held it out to Jon and for half a second, Jon had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. He blinked at it and then looked at her but she kept holding it out for him.

Finally, it clicked and Jon took the compact. He gave her the slightest head nod but she didn’t move. She was pressing herself as tightly against the wall as she could and Jon didn’t even think she was actually breathing. He moved silently towards the opening of the alley, holding his breath, and opening the compact, he directed the mirror out just enough for him to see if anyone was on the sidewalk on either side of the alley.

As soon as he brought the mirror out, a gun was fired, nearly shooting the compact from his hand. Jon didn’t hesitate. He stepped out of the alley and fired his own gun – all within a split second. The man in his own mask fell to the sidewalk and Jon did a quick sweep up and down the sidewalk but that was all who was there. He walked up to the man and shot him once more – this time in his head, just in case he was wearing a vest like Jon and just to be sure.

Bending down, he took the man’s guns. He returned to the alley and picked the compact from the ground. The girl was still pressed to the wall and now, Ghost was standing in front of her as if he was protecting her.

“That was smart,” Jon told her, handing the compact back to her. “Thanks.” She nodded and slipped it back into her bag. “You’re going to take this,” he then said, holding out one of the guns. She blinked at it and made no move to take it from him. “Listen.” Suddenly, he felt like he had no patience. “Tonight is not the night to be anti-gun. You need to take this.”

She shook her head, lifting her eyes to him. “I’m not against guns.”

That surprised him though he kept it hidden from his face so she didn’t see that it did. It seemed like girls who looked like her were always against guns and being able to protect themselves. She was beautiful; shockingly so. Tonight was not a night for a girl who looked like her to be out here unless she was purging.

“I just don’t know how to use one.”

“It’s a camera. Point and shoot.” Slowly, she took the handgun and as she tested the new object in her hands, getting used to the weight, he held out the other gun. “Will this fit in your bag?” He asked. She took the other gun without a word and it took a moment of her shifting things around before getting it in. “We have to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks and he won’t be the only one to find us. Stick as close to the wall as you can. There’s snipers on the roofs.”

She paled at that but managed to nod her head. “I’m Sansa,” she then said.

“Jon.” He pulled his skeleton mask down over his face. “Ready?”

“No.”

“Let’s go.”

He slowly slipped from the alley first, pressing his body against the wall, taking stock of the block. A few cars were on fire already; as was the bank on the corner. All of the banks moved their money prior to tonight to safe, undisclosed locations so there wouldn’t be any money in there but it didn’t stop people from breaking in – just in case there _was_ money left – and burning the buildings to the ground.

He glanced back and saw Sansa slip out and immediately put herself next to him. He needed to get her a mask. Tonight was not the night for anyone to see how pretty she was. _All_ crime was legal tonight.

He carefully stepped over the dead man’s arm and glanced back to make sure that Sansa was still there. He was going to get her back to her apartment and then, he was going to book it. He had until seven o’clock tomorrow morning. That _had_ to be enough time. Jon wasn’t going to wait until the next Purge to do this. He could go there now and bring Sansa with him but it was already going to be dangerous enough going twelve blocks. He couldn’t even imagine how it would be, bringing her clear across the city with him.

Any other day, Jon didn’t need a car. He took the subway every day to work and he could take the subway, or the bus, anywhere he needed to go. There was no need to have a car. Except tonight. He had honestly just planned on stealing one – just for the night – and returning it before the sirens echoed tomorrow morning. Now, he had Sansa and he needed that car more than ever.

He should have left her in the alley. He saved her from that truck of guys. He should have just had her hide in a dumpster for the night and go along his way.

But Purge night or not, Jon knew he couldn’t do that. Maybe hiding in a dumpster would have been safe. Maybe not. And she had helped him with that compact. Purge or not, Jon couldn’t just abandon this girl no matter what his own plans were. He _was_ going to follow through on his plan. If he couldn’t get Sansa home soon enough then yeah. He would bring her with him but at the moment, he was going to go twelve blocks out of his way.

He looked ahead and saw three bodies, dead in the middle of the street. His arm was instantly in front of Sansa, stopping her in her tracks and pressing her tight against the wall. He looked at her and put a finger to his lips. He then pointed upwards and Sansa nodded her head so fast, he thought she might snap her neck.

He tried to figure out what roof the sniper was one; if the person was above them or somewhere across the street. With the position of the fallen bodies in the street, he couldn’t tell.

From the corner of his eye – again – he saw Sansa reaching into her bag. He fully turned his head towards her to watch, wondering what she was going to produce this time. A compact wasn’t going to help with this.

Sansa pulled out a tube of lipstick and Jon blinked at it as he had when she produced the compact.

Silently, Sansa pointed to the lipstick and then across the street to a metal gate that had been pulled down in front of a storefront window.

Jon nodded and taking the lipstick from her, he handed her his gun, making sure she had a hold of it before he got himself ready. He made sure to stay against the wall as much as he could before he threw the lipstick as hard as he could across the street. It clanged against the metal with a great echo and immediately after, the sniper began to fire. It was coming from a roof on the same side of the street as they were.

Without waiting for anything, Jon grabbed his gun and then grabbed Sansa’s hand and keeping them both close to the wall, he began running with Ghost running behind Sansa, watching their backs.

…

They turned down another alley and Jon dropped her hand. Sansa panted heavily, trying to catch her breath, as she watched him. He was looking all around, obviously trying to figure out what they were going to do next. Somewhere – near – she heard shouting and laughing followed by screams and more gunfire. Sansa stepped further into the alley, closer to Jon. He was now looking at a side door leading into one of the buildings. It was locked with a padlock but it didn’t seem like it was a newly installed lock.

Sansa came to take a closer look; to see what he saw. Her heart was still pounding and she wondered how much longer she could keep breathing like this before she just dropped dead. She’d be the only person in the country to die of a non-violent cause on Purge night.

Jon was kneeling in front of the door now, the mask he wore shoved up on top of his head. He noticed her standing next to him, leaning down, and then looked past her to see his dog keeping guard over the alley.

“Got anything else in that magic bag of yours to help with this?” He asked her.

Sansa looked from the lock to Jon. He really was handsome. It was almost startling. She then reminded herself that this was Purge night and this man was out here for the same reason everyone else was.

“I’m not sure,” she answered his question.

She stood up and bringing her bag more to the front of her, she began sifting through it. She pulled out her keys and on the chain, she had a small flashlight. Without a word, she turned it on and handed it to Jon. He stood up and held the flashlight for her so she could see better into the bag.

She had a small container of bobby pins and hair rubber bands – just in case she was at work and she had to redo her hair in the bathroom. Mr. Baelish expected all of his employees to be impeccable and had actually written up some of his workers before if they didn’t meet his standards.

Digging it out from the bottom of the bag, she shook it so Jon could hear. “Can you pick a lock?” She asked and opened the lid so he could see the bobby pins inside.

The most beautiful smile Sansa had ever seen cracked across Jon’s face then.

“Let’s find out if I can,” he said and she then took the flashlight as he took two of the pins.

He knelt down again and Sansa made sure she provided him plenty of light.

“What is this place?” She then asked after a moment as he focused on and tried to pick the lock.

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “But we have to get off the street for a little bit.”

It took much longer than Sansa would have liked and she hated standing outside like this but she didn’t want to rush him. It wasn’t like she could do any better. If Arya, Bran or Rickon were here, they’d probably have this lock picked within a minute but it wasn’t something everyone knew how to do.

“Oh my gosh! You did it!” She exclaimed quietly when they both heard the click.

Jon was smiling as he stood up and turned, setting that smile on her. She was disgusted with herself when she looked at his face and his smile and felt her stomach tighten. She was literally running for her life tonight. It was the Purge and here she was, taken aback by a handsome man. Pathetic, Sansa.

She quickly looked away to put the container of bobby pins and her keys back into her bag.

Jon cleared his throat and quietly, he pulled the lock away and tried the doorknob. It turned. He exhaled a breath but Sansa found herself holding hers. What was on the other side of this door? She understood and agreed that they had to get off the street but whatever this building was and whoever was in it, they could be armed to the teeth and blow her and Jon away the instant they step inside.

“Ghost!” Jon hissed quietly to the dog, who obediently came to him. “Ready?” He then asked Sansa.

“No.”

Jon pushed the door open as slowly and quietly as he could. Sansa still held her breath and gripped the gun with a sweaty palm. She felt a nudging on the back of her leg and looked behind her to see the man’s dog. Ghost. Sansa reached down and rested a hand on top of Ghost’s head. The dog seemed to like that and nudged her leg again.

Silently, she followed Jon into the darkness.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust but she then saw that they were in a hallway. Above them, there was a red glow from the EXIT sign hanging over the door. Jon ushered her further in, followed by Ghost, and then – just as silently – he closed the door behind them all.

Sansa wanted to grab Jon’s hand again but she knew that he needed both hands for his gun and she tightened her hands around her own. He crept down the hallway and Sansa matched his movements. The hallway opened into a small store; the sort that sold lottery tickets, cigarettes, snacks and alcohol.

She screamed when suddenly, a shotgun blast exploded in the wall next to their heads, bits of plaster flying in the air and into their hair.

Jon grabbed her and he dove them both behind the nearest shelf. Ghost barked and dove in after them. Sansa wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck, holding him close to her, as Jon gripped his gun in both hands, crouching, ready to fire back.

“You better get the fuck out of here!” A man shouted from somewhere behind them. “I can do this all night!”

“Fuck,” Jon swore silently to himself. “We’re not here for anything!” Jon shouted back. “We just needed to get off the street for a little bit!”

Sansa jumped and squeezed Ghost when the man’s response to that was to fire another shotgun shell. Bags of potato chips exploded over their heads.

“That’s not my problem! You get the fuck out of my store!”

“Listen!” Jon shouted. “Just give us a few minutes! We’re not going to do anything to you, I promise!”

Sansa expected another shotgun blast but there was nothing. She and Jon looked to one another. It was quiet. So quiet, it scared her.

And then, they heard the pump of the shotgun as the man readied himself to fire it again.

“Stay here,” Jon whispered.

“No!” Sansa whispered back. She pulled one arm away from Ghost’s neck so she could grab hold of Jon’s sleeve to stop him. “Don’t leave me.”

“Stay. I’ll be right back,” he promised.

Jon took a series of deep breaths, preparing himself, and then, he jumped to his feet, firing his gun without even really seeing what or where he was shooting. Sansa clasped her eyes shut at the noise. Another shotgun blast followed fast by another. There was so much smoke from the gunfire, Sansa smelled it with her eyes still closed.

Please stop. Please stop, she pleaded to herself.

Her eyes snapped open when suddenly, Ghost ripped himself away from her and Sansa saw that it wasn’t only the man with the shotgun that was here. Another person was coming down the hallway and with the glow of the exit sign, she saw that it was a woman – a shotgun also in her hands.

She cocked it. “Get the fuck out of our store!” The woman shouted.

Ghost was barking, crouching low, and Sansa knew he was about to pounce. She also knew that the woman would unload a shell into Ghost before he could even land again. Sansa was not going to kill this woman. She _couldn’t_ kill this woman. But this woman was going to kill her.

It was a camera. Point and shoot.

Sansa lifted her arms and did as Jon told her. She pointed and shot. Tears flooded her eyes and she wanted to look anywhere else but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the woman. Sansa didn’t know where she shot her – if the bullet even hit the woman – but then the woman stumbled backwards. She didn’t fall but she stumbled and that was enough for Sansa. She fired again and the woman now fell to her knees, her own shotgun going off. Sansa watched, both in shock and horror, as the woman fell facedown to the floor. She didn’t move again.

The tears in Sansa’s eyes began trailing down her cheeks as she slowly crawled towards the woman, scared and yet, having to see for herself. Blood was already pooling on the floor beneath the woman’s body and Sansa could see that her back wasn’t moving as she breathed. The woman was dead.

The woman was dead because of her. Sansa had killed her.

She was crying and couldn’t stop as she looked at the body. She didn’t even jump as a hand touched her shoulder and Jon crouched down next to her.

“Sansa,” he said her name – quiet and gentle.

Sansa only sobbed harder though and dropping her gun to the floor, she turned to Jon, circled her arms around his shoulders and began crying against his neck.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe how many actually want to read this story. THANK YOU so, so much!!


	3. Chapter 3

…

Sansa didn’t know how long she cried but finally, she stopped – suddenly as if she pressed some button inside of her and turned it off. She could cry tomorrow. Tonight, there was no time for it. Right now, there was only one thing that had to be on her mind and that was to actually make it through this night.

Jon had moved them into a corner of the store in the midst of her breakdown so she wasn’t in view of either of the dead bodies. If she saw either of them, she would only start to cry again and that helped nothing. They had just been a man and a woman, protecting their business, and they hadn’t known Jon and Sansa. All they knew were two people breaking into their store on Purge night and _of course_ they were going to protect it. And she had killed…

No. No. Tomorrow, Sansa, she told herself. Tonight would be about getting through tonight.

Jon had sat with her the entire time, his arms around her as she practically hyperventilated. This complete stranger, who had saved her on Purge night, still hadn’t just left her to fend for herself.

Who _was_ this man?

“I don’t like this world,” Sansa said quietly before she couldn’t.

Jon’s arms pulled away from her, seeming to know that she was going to be alright; relatively speaking. “You’re not the only one,” he said to that.

Sansa watched as he then stood up and looked through the front windows. He then turned, looking to the rest of the store. “But… you’re out here, dressed like…” she waved a hand over him. “You’re going to purge.”

Jon turned back around, looking down at her. He was frowning. “Sometimes, there are good reasons to purge. Have you ever thought of that?”

Sansa was shaking her head before he could even finish asking the question. “There’s _never_ a good enough reason to do this. We just killed two people, Jon. Completely innocent people. Everyone out there, doing whatever they do on this night, this isn’t the way we’re supposed to be.”

“How do you know they were innocent?” He questioned.

“Because…” she sputtered for a moment. “Because they were two people who owned a story and were just trying to protect it.”

“Yeah, but every other night besides this one, how do you know they were innocent? Maybe that guy liked to look at pictures of little kids or maybe that woman was having a bunch of affairs. You don’t know. Maybe they had that shitty lock on the door on purpose so people could come in here and they could do a little purging themselves that way. You. Don’t. Know. ”

“Neither do you.” Her frown grew deep and fierce as she got to her feet. “You can’t make people anyone you want to so you can justify tonight.”

“Don’t lecture me about tonight, Sansa. You don’t know the first thing about me.”

“I know that you seem to be a pretty decent guy if tonight, of all nights, you actually saved someone rather than just leaving me in that alley and letting me fend for myself.”

“You keep pushing your sanctimonious lectures on me, I’ll make sure I get you back to that alley.”

Sansa felt herself growing furious. The coil was tight in her stomach and red hot; burning her and beginning to spread through the rest of her body.

She didn’t know why she would be so mad at him. She didn’t _know_ him.

Deep down, she knew though. She had to believe that this man who saved her was a good man and good men weren’t out here tonight, doing what he was going to do.

“Purge Night isn’t natural, Jon,” Sansa continued. “This isn’t what humans are supposed to do to one another. If anything, Purge Night is making everyone even more unnaturally violent.”

Jon physically stilled at that and Sansa watched him as he seemed to truly be thinking her words over. Sansa held her breath, wondering if he was finally going to be on her side. But when he shook his head, she felt the anger coil dissolve into disappointment.

“Stripped down to our barest instincts, we’re all just still animals, Sansa.”

“We’re supposed to be better than animals, Jon.”

They were both quiet after that and she kept herself at the window, hiding herself against the wall next to it while peaking out through the grates that covered the glass, as Jon moved around the store, looking for something. What, she didn’t know and she didn’t ask. Looting and stealing tonight were legal, too.

She jumped as someone – somewhere – shot off a string of firecrackers. Or were those pops of a gun? She pressed herself harder against the wall.

“I have to call my parents. I have to tell them I’m still alive,” she said out loud.

Again, Jon spun towards her. “You don’t have your phone on you, do you?” He asked quickly and he sounded slightly panicked at just the idea.

“I wish I did. I stupidly forgot it in my car.”

“Thank God,” he breathed.

“Why is that a good thing?”

Jon looked at her for a moment and the store was dark but the streetlights were still on outside; not to mention a few fires as well. It helped give Sansa just enough light to look at this man – truly look at him. She knew that sometimes, in stressful or dangerous situations, a person would begin to develop feelings for the other person they were with. And what was more dangerous and stressful than being out during the Purge?

She told herself that that was why she found Jon to be so handsome with his black hair and matching black beard and his dark eyes. If she was to pass him on any other day, she might not have looked twice at him. It was just this night. This fucking night. They would get through this night alive and then the alarm would blare tomorrow morning at seven and they would walk away – in opposite directions – and that would be that.

“Some people have said some things,” Jon answered her question and he turned, beginning to look through what the store had in their inventory.

“Jon,” Sansa said his name because his answer had been nothing of the sort.

He shook his head as if he wasn’t going to answer but then he did. “Some people think that the government tracks people tonight through their cell phones.”

“Why would they do that?” Her brow furrowed. Yes, she was well aware of the tracking from cell phones but why would the government care what everyone did on Purge Night? That was the whole point of Purge Night. Tonight, there was no law and no government.

“Do you remember the first Purge?” He asked, still looking through things.

“My mom sent us to bed as soon as we were locked in and the alarm blared.”

Sansa still remembered that night. Ned and Catelyn had been so scared but trying to hide it from the kids but the five Stark children had all been able to feel it. Rickon, just a baby, had cried for hours. As for Sansa, she hid herself under the covers, unable to sleep a wink, too young herself to fully understand what was going on outside but knowing enough to know that it was bad.

“Well, it wasn’t going that well. You’re right. People generally aren’t raving lunatics who want to kill everyone. But the government needed it to succeed. The New Founding Fathers couldn’t let their experiment fail. Crime was at an all-time high. The prisons were overcrowded. They _needed_ the Purge to work.” Sansa found herself holding her breath as he spoke. “So they hired people to pick off the people they thought were expendable.”

Sansa was almost afraid to ask but she had to. “Expendable?”

“Poor people. Minorities. Old people. The New Founding Fathers and other interest groups pay people to purge those groups. Yeah, there are plenty of crazy people, willing to do it for free, but then you have those who just want money. Rich people will pay money, too, for people to purge. They’ll bring them to their mansions so they don’t have to come out tonight and dirty themselves on the streets.”

“My boss…” Sansa breathed. She felt the room turn slightly to the side. “He invited me to a Purge party he was having last year. I didn’t go. Do you think…” She didn’t finish. She couldn’t – because she already knew the answer. Mr. Baelish was sleazy. She thought so _all_ year – not just on Purge night – and what Jon had just said, even if he was wrong, it still made perfect sense that Mr. Baelish would do something like that; pay to purge in the safety of his own home. “How do you know all of this?” She then asked.

“I read things other than what the New Founding Fathers want us to read.”

“Is that why you’re out here? Are you getting paid to purge?” Sansa wondered though she didn’t know how much better that would be then him just purging for the Hell of it. Maybe though if he was getting paid… No, that would still be horrible.

Jon didn’t answer right away. He finally found what he was looking for behind the counter and he held it up for Sansa to see. A mask. A plain black ski mask.

She had to wonder why the store owner had that behind the counter.

“No. No one’s paying me. I’m out here to Purge on my own.”

Sansa was right. Neither answer was the better one.

…

“Can you do something with your hair?” Jon asked. “I think it’s too memorable down like it is and we need to disguise you. It’s too dangerous for you to be out in the open like this.”

Sansa nodded without argument. He was absolutely right.

There was a turnstile of hand mirrors hanging next to the cash register and she went there, setting her bag on the counter. She didn’t look to the dead man slumped on the floor behind it. She only looked to her reflection as she began pulling things from her bag.

Jon stood at the front windows, gun in his hands, as he kept watch.

Luckily, she had what she needed in her bag. Catelyn liked to tease her and say that she was already mom without having children yet. Sansa liked to be prepared for just about anything – except getting four flat tires on Purge night, stuck in the city, but it was too late to dwell on it. She was here, it was happening, and she wasn’t going to die tonight. (She also knew that Jon wasn’t going to let her die no matter how might act.)

She had a spray of blood across her face – she wasn’t going to think of how it was that woman’s blood – and a bit of dirt from running the streets and down alleys – and she took out a small packet of moist face towelettes. She leaned in close, making sure she wiped everything away and her skin was clear one again. She then took out a brush and began brushing out the tangles that had snarled in her long red locks.

She glanced over to Jon and found that he was already looking at her. Something about his look tightened her insides and she expected him to quickly look away now that he saw her looking back but he didn’t. Instead, he kept looking at her.

“Are you alright?” He asked her then.

“I’m sorry. For earlier. I didn’t mean to be sanctimonious.”

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

She gave him a small smile and he gave her a small one back.

Stressful or dangerous situations, Sansa reminded herself silently. His smile didn’t mean anything.

…

She had braided her hair and pinned it around her head before Jon helped her pull on the ski mask. She looked at herself in the mirrors the instant it was on and it was frightening. She didn’t look like herself and if she saw someone on the streets tonight she knew, they would never know it was her.

And that was exactly the point.

Finally ready again – after a taking turns for a quick stop in the store’s bathroom – they slowly slipped out again, back into the alley. Ghost went first, alert, ready to warn them. As the night went on, there seemed to be even more gunfire.

She stuck as close to Jon and Ghost as she could without all of them tripping over one another. She held her gun tightly in her hand, her palm sweaty, but she wasn’t going to drop this gun for anything.

It was strange but with this mask on, Jon was right. She didn’t feel exposed. No one knew who she was and she was hiding in plain sight. It was absolutely ludicrous to think such a thing but she felt… safer in a way.

Jon suddenly shoved a hand back, grabbing her and yanking her behind him as he fired with his other hand. She heard the groan of someone being shot and then the thud of their body hitting the ground. From behind them, Sansa heard someone whistling “The Farmer in the Dell” and both she and Jon turned, seeing a man walking down the street, swinging an axe back and forth.

Jon turned towards the man and again, he yanked Sansa behind him. But before he could fire, he froze. So did the axe man, who even stopped whistling. For a moment, Sansa wasn’t sure what had happened. But then, she froze, too.

Coming from… somewhere… and getting closer…

Ke$ha. Someone was blasting Ke$ha. _“Die Young”._

And something about that was more terrifying to Sansa than anything else tonight.

“Go, Ghost. Go!” Jon hissed and the dog took off.

Completely forgetting the axe man, Jon grabbed Sansa’s hand and together, they ran after the dog who was sprinting ahead. Sansa wondered if he knew what hearing Ke$ha meant and if he knew where to go. Jon seemed to think he did because wherever Ghost was taking them, Jon kept following.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Sansa dared to look over her shoulder. She gasped.

“Jon!” She shouted so he could hear her over their heavy breathing, pounding footsteps and the song – on repeat – now getting closer.

Jon looked behind them and saw that it was axe man. He was running after them.

Sansa didn’t think. She didn’t know what was going on or what had spurned Ghost and Jon to run as soon as they heard that song. All she knew was that a man with an axe was running after them.

She had just fired a gun for the first time that night and running in the opposite direction, she knew she didn’t have a chance but she did it anyway. Jon was holding her left hand so her right hand – her gun hand – was free. She lifted it, aimed, and did her best to fire it at the axe man. She obviously couldn’t see the bullet but considering the man was still running after them and didn’t stumble, she didn’t hit him.

She fired again. Lower.

This time, she hit him somewhere because he fell forward onto the street. He was still moving though, hurrying to grab his axe that had fallen from his hand, so she might have hit him in the leg. Maybe. She didn’t know. She honestly didn’t care right now (and she wouldn’t think of how frightening a thought that was; to realize that she didn’t care that she had just shot someone in the leg.)

Ghost tore into an alley as Ke$ha was louder now. So much louder. Nearly as loud as the pounding of Sansa’s heartbeat in her ears. Jon let go of Sansa’s hand and flipped open the lid of the dumpster there.

“Here, boy.”

Jon panted and Ghost obediently went to him and stood still as Jon bent over, picking the heavy dog up with a grunt. Ghost didn’t even yelp as Jon tossed him into the dumpster as gently as he could. He then turned to Sansa and she didn’t need him to tell her. She ran to him and he grabbed her, swinging her up into his arms, lifting her up to the opening. Sansa put her legs over the edge of the dumpster and then dropped herself inside, not making a sound either. Jon handed her his gun and she and Ghost then made sure that Jon had plenty of room for him to heft himself up and then over into the dumpster to join them.

He stood up and grabbed the lid, slamming it down over them with a bang. Sansa handed Jon his gun and she wanted to turn on her flashlight but she didn’t dare. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she found herself moving closer to him.

“What is it?” She whispered. She made a point of breathing through her mouth to try and not inhale too much of the stench of garbage they were in right now.

“Candy girls,” he whispered back.

The lids of the dumpster were closed, sufficiently hiding them, but there were still cracks between the top of the dumpster and the lids. Sansa was able to see a car – the Ke$ha car – squeal to a stop and all of the doors opened. Four girls – wearing tutus, masks and brandishing guns as big as Jon’s – stepped out, the music following them and pouring into the street.

Something about them absolutely terrified Sansa.

“They’re girls who post their Purge night on social media all night. They’re famous in some purging circles. High school girls,” Jon whispered to her.

“High school?” Sansa whispered back, looking at him with wide eyes. “Are they getting paid?”

Jon shook his head. “Just four girls who happen to be friends and who happen to be all psychotic.”

Sansa looked back through the crack. The girls were acting like little kids, skipping around and singing, as if they were having the time of their life at some party. Sansa realized that that was exactly what it was to them. She wondered if the axe man had actually been chasing after them or if he had been running away from the candy girls, too.

“Why did we run _towards_ them?” Sansa whispered. She didn’t want to question Jon in matters like this. He had obviously researched Purge night and she trusted him enough to put her life in his hands but she had to wonder.

“We’re closer to your apartment,” he whispered.

Sansa nodded. She knew he had his reason.

She looked back through the crack at the four girls, now laughing with glee together and pointing at something. She didn’t want to watch them but she couldn’t look away.

Even when they began skipping up the alley they were hiding in.

…

Whistling of "Farmer in the Dell"; inspiration from _The Wire_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so, so much for reading. I seriously still can't believe the response this story is getting. I loved writing this chapter for some reason and I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Just a quick note - I was raised to believe there are two things you don't discuss with people you don't know. Religion and politics. I honestly live by that. I didn't want to include anything political in this story but "The Purge" universe is a dystopian future and politics actually does play a part in this particular world and the overall story. Please do your best to not talk politics in the comments. I would really appreciate it. 
> 
> Thank you again!


	4. Chapter 4

…

Jon closed his eyes and took himself away to anywhere instead of where he actually was. If his mind wasn’t there, his body could go completely still and silent. Ghost seemed to follow his lead and pushing his body against Jon’s, Jon put an arm around the dog and Ghost pushed his head up under Jon’s chin and rested it against Jon’s chest.

He couldn’t hear Sansa and he didn’t open his eyes to see what she was doing but Jon assumed that she was doing the same. There wasn’t a single sound inside of that dumpster. Outside however, he heard the steady echo of gun shots, screaming, random alarms going off and the Candy Girls. The Ke$ha song must have been on repeat because it played over and over again. Jon would hear it in his nightmares.

The girls were in the alley now, laughing with joy, clearly in agreement that this was the best night of the year. Jon hated them.

With his eyes closed, he obviously couldn’t see Sansa and with the darkness inside of the dumpster, he might not have been able to anyway, but he could still feel her presence. And then, he could feel her physically. He had assumed she was hugging her legs. He wasn’t sure why he had thought that; he just figured that that’s what she was doing because that’s what she had done in that convenience store. She had hugged herself, tightly folding her body into herself as if making herself as small as possible.

But now, he could feel her foot. His legs were stretched out in front of him and it seemed like Sansa had done the same with hers because in the darkness, her foot had found his. And with the slightest pressure, she pushed it against his. After a moment, Jon pushed his foot against hers and together, they pushed at the same time, both feeling the other’s foot and letting the other know that they were still right there.

It felt nice to Jon; to know that she was there and being able to feel her.

Finding her and saving her tonight had ruined all of his previous plans and had made him make new ones and he could only hope that he still would be able to do what he had to do before the sirens blared at seven o’clock the next morning. He found that he was glad he wasn’t alone tonight though.

“You bitch,” one of the girls said as the others laughed and Jon could hear the distinct sound of someone peeing. “You’re not posting this.”

“Of course I am,” a girl answered, laughing.

Jon heard them talk but he kept his mind out of it. Silent, his eyes stayed closed and he stroked Ghost’s fur over and over again as he continued pressing gentle pressure against Sansa’s foot and she pressed back. 

“How’s the list?” A third girl asked.

“We’re doing good,” the fourth and final girl spoke. “Melissa’s brother-”

“Mom and dad are going to be so pissed about that,” the first girl laughed. Jon assumed that was Melissa.

“My next door neighbor. Tell _me_ to turn my music down again, old man. And we still have that gas station attendant for not selling us cigarettes. And then, there’s Mr. Tarly and whoever else we come across in the meantime,” the girl finished.

Jon’s eyes snapped open and his body was already completely still but now, his body completely _froze_.

Sam. Yes, there was Sam’s brother, Dickon, who also lived in the city but these girls were high school girls and Sam was a high school teacher; health teacher. They _had_ to be talking about Sam.

What the Hell had Sam done to these girls that they would want to purge him? Sam was the nicest guy in this entire shit-filled world. What? Did he give them too much homework or punish them for texting during class? The Candy Girls were complete psychos – and that was an insult to other psychos. They had no issue killing anyone during the Purge for the slightest offense.

And since they wore masks tonight – like everyone – no one knew who they were. Sam had the Candy Girls in one of his classes and he had no idea. He was just a teacher, teaching the teenage students in his health class.

Jon was pushing his foot harder against Sansa’s – realizing it but not able to stop himself from doing it.

His mind was racing. He had to let Sam know but like Sansa, Jon didn’t have his phone on him and they were too far away from their apartment building now. They were far closer to Sansa’s. He had to get them both there so he could use someone’s phone and call Sam and Gilly. They would be safe. Jon and Sam paid to live in that building specifically because of the security it offered on the Purge. There was no way these girls would be able to actually get inside the building and then get to Sam.

Still, Jon had to call Sam and tell him that someone was after him. He and Gilly could go across the hall to Pyp’s apartment. Pyp was one of their best friends and never went out on Purge night either. Just to be safe, Sam and Gilly would be able to hide out there and the Candy Girls wouldn’t find him there.

Jon couldn’t do anything. There was four of them and one of him. Even if he was able to take out all of them, they would fire back before he finished and he couldn’t risk Sansa and Ghost like that.

Finally – fucking _finally_ – the Candy Girls left the alley, heading back to their car. The doors shut – Jon made sure he counted four doors – and the music was still loud but slightly muffled now and with a squeal of tires, they were gone. Still, Jon didn’t stand up immediately.

Giving Ghost a squeeze with his arm, Jon then slowly – silently – pulled himself away, shifting himself onto his knees, mindful that the garbage beneath him didn’t crunch too much as he crawled across the dumpster to the other side and to come beside Sansa. This close to her, he put his finger to his lips and Sansa nodded. He then peered through the crack between the top of the dumpster and the lid.

The Candy Girls were gone.

Slowly, Jon began to stand up, pushing the lid up; making sure everything was still done as quietly as possible. Sansa moved slowly as well as she began to stand up, too. Jon took her hands in his and helped her to her feet. She had taken her ski mask off sometime while hiding and Jon now looked into her face, both standing close enough for Jon to look directly into her eyes and know how blue they were.

He felt ridiculous for thinking it on Purge night of all nights, but Sansa was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and if this was _any_ other night and he had met her, he might have done something about that.

They might have seen one another out, at some bar. Jon would have offered to buy her a drink and then made his best attempt to flirt with her; along with possibly every other single guy in the bar who saw her. Sansa didn’t seem like the girl who would laugh in his face for his poor attempts. Maybe she would have liked him and flirted back. Maybe, on any other night, meeting one another could be _something_.

But this wasn’t any other night. This was the Purge and nothing was more important than keeping them both, and Ghost, alive. He couldn’t allow himself to think of anything else.

Still, he felt his hand lift to her cheek and his thumb gently swiped across her soft skin.

“Are you alright?” He asked as if they actually had the time for him to ask her that question.

“I need to delete every Ke$ha song I’ve ever downloaded,” she let him know and Jon actually smiled at that.

If he thought she was going to have some of reaction to his hand still lightly touching her, he was proven wrong when instead, she seemed to actually be leaning _into_ his touch. Jon told himself not to read too much into it though. It was Purge night and she was terrified and he was the only one out here who wouldn’t be trying to kill her if he saw her.

“We need to get to your apartment as fast as we can,” Jon told her, shaking himself out of it. There were far more important things to think about than Sansa’s soft skin. “When we get there, would I be able to use a phone? I have to make a call.”

“Of course,” was her immediate answer.

Leaving the other lid down, Jon patted it and Ghost came to him. He bent down and with a slight grunt, he lifted Ghost up and set him down on the lid. He then hoisted himself up and out, landing on the ground. Ghost leapt down as well. Jon looked to Sansa as she looked to the top of the dumpster. She gripped it and hopped a little, bringing her foot up onto the edge. But she struggled to find the best way to bring her other foot up so she could pull herself from the dumpster and instead, she more or less tumbled out.

Jon was fast, literally catching her in his arms.

“You okay?” He asked.

Sansa was breathing heavily, her arms around his neck, and she nodded her head quickly. “I’ve never climbed out of a dumpster before.”

That made him smile a little. “Couldn’t tell,” he said and she smiled a little, too. “Your apartment is only a couple of blocks from here,” he said as he bent down, setting Sansa on her feet again. “We’re going to run the entire way there and we’re not going to stop for anything. Got it?” He asked, looking to Sansa and then to Ghost before back to Sansa.

She nodded her head quickly, agreeing; not saying anything. The fear had taken over her body again.

Jon went back to the dumpster and reaching in, he pulled out his gun and he looked, making sure that Sansa had hers as well. He took a deep breath himself and looked to the opening of the alley. His heart was pounding as if they had run the two blocks already.

“Are we ready?” Jon asked both Sansa and Ghost.

Sansa still didn’t say anything and once again, she just nodded her head. Jon wanted to calm her down; assure her that everything was going to be fine. It was just two blocks. But he didn’t say anything because he knew that that wasn’t something he _could_ say.

…

Sansa’s building was like Jon and Sam’s. There was thick steel that covered the front doors of the building and all of the windows but there was also a keypad that every tenant had the code to – just in case they were outside during the Purge and had to get inside. This wasn’t like Jon and Sam’s. If a person was stuck outside, they were stuck and couldn’t get in. As he watched Sansa punch in the code, he saw the flaw to this. During the Purge, getting this code and getting into this building could be done a number of ways and he was sure the tenants had a sense of security but Jon knew – even if they didn’t – that that sense was false.

Once Sansa punched in the code, he heard the click of something unlocking and Sansa moved past him, going to the far end of the steel and he saw the door that had popped open. She grabbed it and pulled it open, stepping in, followed closely by Ghost and Jon followed them both inside. Something started beeping and after five beeps, the door sealed shut behind them again. That had been five seconds too long, in Jon’s opinion, but still, he kept quiet.

He just hoped no one was in the building that wasn’t supposed to be; or that any of the tenants who lived here hadn’t been out purging and felt like bringing that home.

Their feet were quiet on the carpet as Sansa led them towards the elevators and she pressed the ‘up’ arrow. A moment later, the elevator arrived and Jon, Sansa and Ghost all stepped inside. Sansa didn’t say a word as she pressed the button for the fifth floor; the top floor of the building.

Sansa looked to him. “I have a landline you can use,” she let him know. “Does the government track those?”

“They track everything. They use the traffic and building security cams to spy on people tonight, too.” She visibly shivered at that. Jon found himself taking a step closer to her. “You have a landline?” He then asked, wanting her to get her mind off of what he just said.

It worked. She smiled a little as she looked at him. “My parents insisted. As my dad says, you can’t lose a landline or leave it in your car during Purge night.”

Jon smiled a little, too, and as he did and Sansa saw it, her smile grew.

The elevator doors opened with a ding onto the fifth floor and it sounded quiet to him. Jon and Ghost followed Sansa down the hallway – their steps, once again, quiet on the carpet – and she stopped at 505. No sooner had she slipped her key into the door that it swung open and a brunette girl Sansa’s age stood there.

“Oh my God, Sansa!” The girl fell into Sansa, her arms thrown around her. “What happened? Where were you? Your parents called and they told me you never made it to their house and you’re not answering your cell! What happened?” The girl was crying now, squeezing Sansa so tight, Jon could see the girl’s arms flex as she did so.

“I’ll tell you. We need to get inside, Beth,” Sansa said and Beth finally noticed that Sansa wasn’t alone. She blinked to Jon – and Ghost – and saw the skeleton mask on his head and the way he was dressed. She also saw the large gun in his hands. The girl, Beth, stiffened immediately. “It’s alright. I promise. Jon isn’t going to hurt us. He’s the reason I’m still alive,” Sansa promised her as she ushered all of them inside. She looked to Jon and then pointed to the phone on the table next to the couch.

“Thanks,” Jon said and strode right for it.

As he dialed Sam’s number and waited for him to pick up – hoping he would because he wouldn’t recognize this number – he watched Sansa with her roommate. The two girls were standing close, whispering, and as Beth’s eyes grew wider and wider, Jon could tell that Sansa was telling her the whole story.

“Come here, Ghost,” Sansa then said and Ghost followed her into the kitchen where she filled a bowl with water and then set it down on the floor for him.

“You’re not going out there again, are you?” Beth asked.

Sansa didn’t answer right away like Jon – and Beth – expected her to. Instead, she looked over to Jon. Jon didn’t know what she was thinking and he didn’t know if he was supposed to be doing something right now.

“No, I’m not going out there again,” Sansa finally answered.

Shit. Sam’s voice mail. That was okay. Of course it was okay. He didn’t know this number and he wasn’t going to pick it up. He was perfectly fine. He wasn’t going out and their building – and apartment – was secure; far more secure than Sansa’s. The Candy Girls had absolutely no way of getting to him.

Jon looked to the nearest clock he could find – the one on the stove in the kitchen. Christ. It was almost midnight already. He wouldn’t have time to get back to Sam, check on him and still do what he had to do. But he had to know that Sam was alright. He couldn’t leave that until after seven and the Purge was finished.

“Hey, Sam. It’s Jon. Listen to me.”

Jon then dove into the entire story and ending with him telling Sam to get him and Gilly across the hall to Pyp’s – just to be double safe.

A knock came on Sansa’s door and Beth went to go answer it. A girl with long, wavy brown hair entered, waving a bottle of tequila.

“What happened to you?” She asked Beth. “Sansa! Oh, you’re okay!” She threw her arms around Sansa’s neck but unlike Beth, who she had hugged back, Jon noted that Sansa went a little stiff. “Beth was so worried about you. We _all_ were worried. You smell like trash.”

“I’m alright, Margaery,” Sansa patted the girl on the back.

“Harry?” Beth said with a furrowed brow. “Did you just get back? How did you get in?”

A young man walked into the apartment after Margaery and Jon hung up the phone, looking at these two new additions. Did they all live in this building? Where were they all coming from? Jon didn’t know these people – obviously – and Sansa did know these people – obviously – but it was Purge night. Very few people could be trusted completely on this night.

And there seemed to be a thickness in the air he didn’t understand and necessarily didn’t like.

Sansa seemed to be knowing that Jon didn’t like this because she looked at him then.

“Could I use your bathroom?” He asked her.

“Of course,” Sansa said and without looking at anyone else, she reached out and took his hand.

They had been holding hands all night and yet, to Jon, this – for whatever reason – felt different to him. Even in the safety of her apartment, surrounded with people she knew, Sansa still reached for his hand. Jon squeezed it, silently letting her know that he was there (but he had to wonder why she needed him and his hand now that she was home).

“Who are you?” The guy, Harry, asked, frowning at the sight of Jon.

“Jon,” Beth answered as Sansa and Jon continued down the hallway and he felt Ghost’s presence behind them, following them. “He kept Sansa safe. Did you go out there?” She then asked Harry.

“Here you are,” Sansa said, reaching into a dark room and flipping on the switch. “Take your time.”

“You know I can’t,” he reminded her.

“Please don’t go back out there,” she said softly. “Please. Just stay here until seven. Stay with me.”

Jon looked at her upon her saying those words and he didn’t look away. _“Please don’t leave me.”_ Her words from the alley, hours earlier when they first met, echoed in his mind, now joined with _“Stay with me”_.

He found himself wanting to. He found himself not wanting to leave her.

But he couldn’t stay. He still had to get a hold of Sam. He still had to steal a car. He still had to _purge_ the one and only person in this world who actually deserved it. He looked to Sansa and he couldn’t stay with her even though he knew that it was what he truly wanted.

Something past Sansa caught his eye. Down the hallway, in the living room, Beth, Harry and Margaery still stood and it looked like they were discussing something. Heatedly. He didn’t understand the dynamics. Beth was obviously Sansa’s roommate and her friend. Margaery was someone who Sansa didn’t really like and Jon noticed that when Harry entered the apartment, Sansa hadn’t even looked at him.

Jon wasn’t sure what was going on but then, he didn’t _need_ to know what was going on. As soon as Margaery pulled out that gun from the back of her skirt and began firing it, Jon grabbed Sansa and Ghost, yanked them both into the bathroom and slammed the door as Sansa started to scream over the gunfire and more shouts and screams rose from the living room along with endless gun shots.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so, so much!! 
> 
> So, there was _The Purge_ television show for two seasons and for the most part, it wasn't good lol There were some good and memorable scenes but definitely not the best thing in the world. I posted one of those good scenes. It's the opener from season two and it's almost funny, which you would not expect, but I posted it because it's good and unexpected. Nothing scary or violent.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter! Thank you again!


	5. Chapter 5

…

“Beth!” Sansa screamed over the gun shots ringing out from the living room.

Jon pushed her further into the bathroom. “Get in the bathtub. Ghost, bathtub.” The dog jumped into the bathtub without needing to be told twice but Sansa now seemed to be frozen. She heard the shots and Margaery was yelling something and Sansa seemed to be unable to move. “Sansa.” He said her name and put his hands on her cheeks, forcefully – gently – turning her face so it looked into his. “I need you to get into the bathtub and I need you to stay down,” he told her.

This time, Sansa nodded – slowly – and tears were building up in her eyes. He wanted to do something. Hug her. Kiss her. Things he could never do because it was Purge night and now wasn’t the time to do things like that. It would _never_ be the time.

He watched as Sansa climbed into the bathtub with Ghost and with her arms around the dog, she seemed to press herself tightly against the animal as if attempting to hide herself into his fur.

“Stay here,” Jon told them both before turning back towards the door.

He set his larger gun onto the bathroom counter and took out the smaller handgun he had inside his coat. Opening the door a crack, he points the gun out first, followed by his head – just enough to see up the hallway and take stock of what was happening. He could see someone’s feet and legs but the wall of the living room obstructed who it was. That had to be Beth – and she wasn’t moving.

He saw Margaery, still holding the gun, pointing it into the room where Jon couldn’t see. That had to be Harry though because who else would she be pointing it to?

“Margaery, you have to let me check on Beth. Please,” Harry was saying.

“Please,” Margaery mocked the word with a laugh. “You don’t give a shit about Beth.”

Jon silently slipped from the bathroom, pressing against the wall and closing the door silently behind him. He didn’t care what was going on. He didn’t want to know. He just cared that it was happening when he, Sansa and Ghost were all too close to it.

“If you cared about Beth at all, you wouldn’t have been cheating on her all year with me!” Margaery was shouting now. “If you cared about Beth at all, you would have broken up with her and saved her from this! This is my right! Given to me by my government!”

She fired the gun again and Jon could tell that she wasn’t actually aiming it at Harry to shoot him. It was too high and too wide. Right now, she was just shooting to shoot. She wasn’t shooting to kill. Yet.

“If you cared about Beth, you wouldn’t be coming across the hall to fuck me whenever you wanted! If you cared about Beth, you wouldn’t be undressing her roommate in your mind whenever she walked into the room! Or what? Did you fuck Sansa, too?”

“Margaery, stop!” Harry shouted back. “Please. Please, just let me check on Beth and then I’ll be with you! I’m with you!”

Jon had been edging down the hallway, pressed against the wall, throughout the entire exchange. Margaery wasn’t paying attention; not even from the corner of her eye. Her sole focus was on Harry. Listening to her though, Jon had the strong urge now to kill Harry, too. He had felt something was wrong when he came into the girls’ apartment and he had seen the way Sansa had done everything to _not_ look at Harry.

Harry was clearly a pig, cheating on Beth – and even though Jon had only just met her, he thought that she seemed like a pretty nice girl – with another girl who lived in the same damn building – but did he try something with Sansa? Maybe he should just let Margaery purge him and mind his own business. But he had to get Sansa and Ghost out of here and Margaery firing a gun around with obviously no idea what she was doing wouldn’t make that exactly easy. Or safe.

Jon fired once. Just once.

The bullet hit Margaery in her arm and with a scream, she dropped the gun. She spun towards Jon, her eyes wide, and Jon wondered if she had completely forgotten about him and Sansa or if she hadn’t intended on bringing them into this. Well, the instant she opened fire in the apartment while they were still there, she made them a part of this.

“You shot me!” She sounded so surprised at that; her brain in shock, not registering being shot quite yet.

Jon didn’t say anything. He came up the rest of the hallway into the living room and picked up Margaery’s gun, slipping it into the inside of his coat. He looked to Harry across the room, by the windows, his hands up. He then looked to Beth. She had been shot twice and he did a quick assessment of her. Once in the arm. Once in the shoulder. She was lying still on the floor though. Jon thought she might be playing opossum; making Margaery think she was far worse off than she might actually be. Jon hoped that’s what she was doing.

“You have no right to shoot me!” Margaery was screeching now. “It is my right to purge!”

“Yeah, I get that,” Jon said, looking back to her. Blood was seeping through her fingers as she held her wound. “But you’re not going to do this when me and Sansa are still here.”

“Well, ask her to join us. I know she hates Harry as much as I do. Sansa!” She then shouted. “I’m going to blow Harry’s brains all over your living room wall! Do you want to take a shot?!”

Jon looked to Harry. The idiot was still holding up his hands. “Should Sansa want to purge you?” He asked the guy as if he was expecting an actual _honest_ response.

Harry shook his head rapidly. “I never did anything to her.”

“Did you want to?” The next question surprised even Jon once it came from his mouth. Harry’s silence was more than enough answer and Jon felt his fingers tighten around the gun – which also surprised him. He didn’t know this guy. This guy wasn’t _anyone_ to him.

“Don’t you dare,” Margaery read his mind. “He is _mine_ and it’s my right. This fucker has told me for the past year that he’s going to leave Beth and be with me and I actually believed him. He was never going to leave Beth! She’s too sweet and too perfect and why leave that when he can still fuck me on the side?”

Jon didn’t say anything to that. He didn’t need to say anything.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Margaery then screamed, the pain finally hitting her. “You shot me!” She then yelled at Jon again. “I didn’t do anything to you!”

“You’re going to let me, my dog and Sansa out of here and then, I don’t give a shit what you do, but you are going to let the three of us out of here with no problem.” He glanced down to Beth. “And we’re taking Beth with us,” he added.

“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Margaery scowled at him.

Jon hesitated for just a moment before he raised the gun and pointing it directly to her head. “I am.”

Margaery stared at him; _glared_ but Jon didn’t care. She could glare all she wanted. He was taking Sansa, Ghost _and_ Beth out of here and she wasn’t going to do anything to stop him. This was really fucking up his night. Sansa couldn’t stay here. She’d have to come back out there with him and now, he had a wounded woman to worry about, too.

He had no idea Purge Night was going to be this difficult.

“Sansa,” Jon called out for her. “Ghost!”

It felt like an hour passed before slowly, the bathroom door opened. He glanced back to it and Sansa had poked her head out, their eyes instantly locking. She opened the door just wide enough for her and Ghost to both slip out. He knew she heard everything from the bathroom and he didn’t have to explain anything.

Once she saw that Jon had all of the guns, Sansa seemed to spring into action. She opened the hallway closet and pulled down a stack of towels. She then hurried into the living room and Jon kept his eyes and gun on both Margaery and Harry as Sansa knelt down next to Beth. As soon as Sansa pressed one of the towels against Beth’s shoulder, the woman gasped and her eyes flew open. She reached up, grabbing Sansa’s shoulders.

“Shhhhh. Shhhhh. You’re alright,” Sansa did her best to smile at her. “You’re going to be alright.”

“Can she stand?” Jon asked.

“She will,” Sansa nodded.

“Good. We’re getting out of here. Where’s your bag?”

“Jon!” Sansa suddenly shouted.

Jon saw a flash of movement and he didn’t have time to think. He didn’t _have_ to think. Harry dove suddenly behind the couch and he came up with a gun. Jon threw himself down on Sansa and Beth, covering both bodies with his and he grabbed Ghost with his arm, dragging the dog down, too, as Harry’s gun exploded in rapid fire. Margaery screamed as he shot her over and over again, every bullet hitting her and knocking her down to the floor. Jon lifted his head and taking one look at Harry, he fired his own gun.

The single bullet hit Harry directly in the forehead and Jon watched as the impact knocked Harry back against the wall behind him. He was dead before he slid to the floor.

Silence.

Jon slowly pulled himself off of Sansa and Beth and looked to Margaery, dead, and then stood up, looking to Harry’s body. Sansa lifted her head, breathing heavily. They looked at one another.

“We have to get out of here,” Jon said and then expected Sansa to raise an argument but she didn’t. She looked back down to Beth, who was coughing now. She pressed the towel harder against her shoulder. “Do you have a car, Beth?” He asked though he had no idea if she could actually hear him or even understand.

But she nodded.

Sansa looked to Jon, silent but questioning.

“There are makeshift hospitals set up in a few spots in the city tonight. All sorts of people volunteer at them. We have to find one.”

“How are we going to do that?” Sansa asked. “Do you know where they are?”

“No.” Jon went into the kitchen and began opening drawers, helping himself to the carving knife, butcher knife and small cleaver he found there. Just in case. “But we’ll find one.”

Driving around the city on Purge Night, looking for a makeshift hospital that could be anywhere. Why had he ever thought this night would be easy?

…

Jon had handed Sansa his guns and he carried Beth in his arms as they took the elevator down to the parking garage. Ghost went first, looking out in case anyone was lurking down there, and Sansa hit the unlock button on Beth’s keys. The alarm beeped and she then hurried ahead, opening the backseat so Jon could gently lay Beth down across the bench.

Sansa handed Jon the keys and he got in behind the wheel and he leaned over, opening the front passenger side door for Ghost to jump in as Sansa climbed into the backseat with Beth.

“You don’t have to do this,” Beth said. “You don’t even know me.”

“Hush, Beth. We’re finding you one of these hospitals,” Sansa said. “Go that way, Jon,” Sansa said, her hand appearing over his shoulder as she pointed ahead.

Jon drove them up the lane, following the arrows, and came to the exit, also blocked with a wall of steel. There was a keypad and he drove up enough for Sansa to reach out the window. Once again, she hit a code and the wall began opening up like a garage door. He clenched his jaw and squeezed his fingers around the steering wheel. This building’s security was shit and he had to talk to Sansa about it.

Tomorrow morning, he would. If they had a tomorrow morning. If they ever spoke to one another or saw one another after this night was done.

“I’m sorry about Harry,” Beth said quietly to Sansa as Jon pulled out into the street.

This was not going to be easy. Fires were everywhere. People barricaded roads for purging. He thought of Sansa’s own car and the nails someone had thrown all over the road to puncture all of her tires. He knew he had planned on stealing a car for tonight but now that he was actually driving, it might actually be easier to be out on foot during the Purge.

“ _I’m_ sorry, Beth,” Sansa said. “Did you… did you know about him and Margaery?”

“No. But I should have. The way he always eye-fucked you, I should have known he was cheating on me. Not with you. I know you would never do that to me and I know you hated him but I should have known he was doing that with someone.”

She gasped when Sansa pressed the towel tighter against her shoulder.

“Fuck,” Jon swore.

“What is it?” Sansa instantly leaned forward from the back seat, her head coming up next to his. She asked the question but she could see immediately why Jon swore. “How are you going to get around them?”

Jon thought for just a moment, slowly bringing the car to a stop. Up ahead, there were trash barrels on fire and several masked people brandishing their own weapons, blocking their way. “You’re going to take this.” He reached over to the floor of the passenger seat and picked up his gun, handing it back to her.

“Jon, I can’t-”

He cut her off. “You’re going to take this and aim it out the back window. I’m going to floor it and the instant you hear anyone shooting at us, you’re going to shoot back.” He turned to look at Sansa. She looked terrified but she didn’t stop her hands from taking the gun he was holding for her. “You can do this, Sansa. We need you to do this.” She nodded and kept looking at him and didn’t say anything.

Jon didn’t dare. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

And yet…

He didn’t stop himself from leaning in and swiftly pressing his lips to hers.

He could tell the kiss surprised Sansa; stunned her. There was the tiniest squeak from the back of her throat and he expected her to rip her lips away in an instant. But instead, after that initial second, she kissed him back. Sansa leaned into him, pressing her lips against his, and for a moment in time, Jon forgot all about the purge and what night it was. Sansa was kissing him and there was no time for this and yet, this was the _only_ thing that he wanted to concentrate on.

Sansa pulled back first, slightly breathless, and with a snap, Jon was brought back to what they _should_ be doing. They looked at one another, both out of breath, and then, not saying anything – what needed to be said couldn’t be said tonight – Jon reached up and pulled the ski mask down over her face. Sansa did the same for him, pulling the skeleton mask down over his.

“You ready?” He asked.

“No,” she answered, but she took the gun and pulled herself back into the back seat. “You need to get down. Can you do that?” She asked Beth.

Beth didn’t say anything. She kept the towel pressed to her shoulder and with gritted teeth, she slid from the seat onto the floor. Jon snapped his fingers and pointed to the floor and Ghost, despite his size, managed to get off the passenger seat and squeeze himself down on the floor as well. Jon looked back into the rear view mirror, meeting Sansa’s eyes through the reflection.

Without a word, she rolled down her window and Jon slammed his foot against the gas pedal.

…

“How do you even know we’re going in the right direction?” Sansa asked as Jon drove towards the financial district of the city. The streets were unsettling quiet and empty.

“I don’t,” Jon shook his head. “But this part of the city is always deserted on the Purge. I’d set a hospital up here, away from most of the mayhem.”

“Why is this part always deserted?” She wondered, looking back to Beth. She was quiet but still awake. She was too pale though. They had to find this makeshift hospital and soon.

“Banks empty their money and hide it away in a secure location. Bankers have the top security for themselves on this night. There’s no reason for people to come down here.”

“That makes sense,” Sansa gave a nod. “If I was a banker, dealing with people’s money, possibly _losing_ people’s money, I’d hide myself underground for twelve hours.”

Jon smiled a little at that. “Me, too,” he agreed. Sansa smiled back.

His lips were still tingling and he wondered if hers were.

He glanced at her before back to the road. “That Harry guy… he didn’t do…” He tried to find the words.

“No,” Sansa spared him. “He didn’t. I knew he wanted… _something_. I was honestly afraid that he would try something one of these Purge nights since he’d be allowed to. It’s also one of the reasons I always go to my parents’ house tonight. _Supposed_ to go. I just didn’t want to be around him in case he did try something.”

Jon didn’t say anything to that. He was suddenly feeling much better that he had shot and killed the guy even though he hadn’t even known him.

“Sansa!” Beth suddenly exclaimed, making both Sansa and Jon jump.

“What?” Sansa spun back towards her, panicked.

“Is that…” Beth began to say. She then pointed out her window towards the intersection they were coming upon. Sansa leaned forward again to see what Beth was seeing. She gasped so suddenly, she almost choked.

“What?” Jon asked, looking and seeing the ambulance at the corner, their back doors open and two people working on someone bleeding on the sidewalk. “What is it?” He looked to Sansa again.

Sansa swallowed, staring ahead to the ambulance and the two people. “It’s my brother and sister.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you!! Purge Night in the movies always moves quickly so this story will do that, too.


	6. Chapter 6

…

Sansa, Robb and Arya all hugged one another as tightly as they could; almost reluctant to let go again.

“What are you doing out here?” All three seemed to ask at the same time.

Arya and Robb looked at the gun in Sansa’s hands and the ski mask pushed to the top of her head.

“What happened, Sansa?” Robb asked. He looked past her to look at Jon with Ghost and the gun in Jon’s hands and the one on his back and the skeleton mask on his head. “Why aren’t you at mom and dad’s?”

“I got flat tires,” Sansa shook her head as she answered, looking at her brother and sister, understanding that they were working as medics on Purge night but not understanding it at the same time.

She wanted to ask them all sorts of questions and she knew that Robb and Arya both had their own to ask but there wasn’t time for that. Not right this second. It was just after two o’clock and less than five hours now remained until this year’s Purge was done. There would be plenty of time to ask questions then. Hopefully.

“I need your help,” Sansa said and then went to the other side of the car, opening the back door.

“Beth,” Robb breathed at the sight of her. Beth was almost unconscious now because even though Sansa had done her absolute best to keep the towels tied tight around both wounds, she was still losing blood and she needed help. Immediately.

Robb reached into the car and – as gently as he could – slipped his arms under her, pulling and carrying Beth from the car and carrying her to the ambulance. The man they had been working on, unfortunately, hadn’t made it and his body had been moved aside to be picked up tomorrow so they had room to help Beth.

Sansa was torn between watching her siblings work on Beth and watching Jon. He was standing guard at the back of the ambulance, watching up and down the quiet street. In the distance, there were still pops and fires of guns, screams, and someone was blasting music. At least it wasn’t Ke$ha.

At the same time, they saw the car turn onto the street, someone standing up through the sunroof. Jon braced himself, lifting his gun, and Sansa found herself lifting her own. It was slightly alarming how quick it became almost a reflex to her considering before this night, she had never held or fired a gun. Now, she was more than prepared to protect herself and those with her on this night.

She hated this night. The Purge turned people into beings that were hardly recognizable as being human. And now, she was just like everyone else out here tonight and she hated that, too.

“It’s alright,” Arya spoke up, having noticed both of them tense and ready their guns. “They won’t attack us.”

“Why not?” Jon was the one to ask, never taking his eyes from the car as it began to slow down as it neared.

“Most things don’t matter tonight. Some things still do. It’s an unspoken agreement. They don’t bother us and we don’t go after them,” Arya said.

Sansa and Jon both watched the car slowly drive past them. The people in the car and the one standing through the sunroof were all wearing matching masks – hockey masks like Jason from _Friday the 13 th_ – and the car didn’t stop but it went by them as slowly as it possibly could, everyone in the car watching them. Sansa’s heart was pounding, wanting to believe her sister’s words but finding it hard to believe after the things she had seen and heard tonight. It was Purge night. Why would anything be agreed upon?

But the car didn’t stop or fire on them and when it passed the ambulance, it continued on its way.

Sansa exhaled a breath and her eyes went to Jon. He was still watching the car – wanting to make sure that they weren’t going to turn around suddenly and come after them. She then looked back to Robb and Arya, both working quickly to take care of Beth.

“Is this what you did last Purge?” Sansa asked.

She desperately wanted to help them help Beth but she didn’t want to get in the way. And Robb might have been a junior partner at a law firm and Arya might have been a hiking guide for one of Westeros’s National Parks but it looked like they knew what they were doing.

Robb nodded. “We heard they took volunteers and we did some local training.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sansa asked. “I would have done this with you.”

That was a lie and they all knew it the instant it slipped from her mouth. Sansa hated this night. She was terrified of this night. And her opinion of it hadn’t changed. Even if she would love the idea of helping people on this night, the truth was, she wouldn’t be able to. She never wanted to be out on this night again. Next year, she was going to get to her parents’ house the day before so there would be absolutely no risk of her being trapped out here, with people trying to kill one another.

She looked to Jon. He was out here to Purge. He was out here to _kill_ – besides the people they had both killed. He was out here, on Purge Night, willingly.

Why did she know that and still not want to let this man out of her sight?

She thought of that kiss. It had been so unexpected and yet, _so_ wanted. Her lips were still tingling from it; even with everything else that was happening. Is that why she wanted Jon to kiss her? Was this night so intense and frightening, was her adrenaline just pumping so wildly, that the kiss was a result of it? Did Jon even want to kiss her or was he just feeling the same? Did he think that since he might die tonight, he might as well kiss her?

Feeling her eyes on him, Jon turned his head away from watching the street to look at her. His lips twitched in the smallest smile and Sansa was able to smile back.

“Sansa.”

Her head whipped around to look at Arya and Robb in the back of the ambulance with Beth and Arya gestured for Sansa to come to her.

Sansa climbed up, thinking she wanted to tell her about Beth, but instead, Arya looked at her. From on the other side of Beth, Robb looked at her, too.

“Who is that?” Robb was the one to ask.

Sansa took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, and then dove into the whole night, beginning with the nails on the street and her flat tires and Jon saving her that very first time from those men in the truck. 

Her siblings listened without interrupting; not missing a word.

She didn’t say that Jon was out here, purging, but she didn’t think that she had to. It was obvious from her story. There was one reason for someone to be out here on this night, wearing a mask and brandishing guns. Sansa wanted to defend him against whatever her siblings were thinking of Jon right now. She didn’t want them to think badly of him. She realized that that was so important to her; that they didn’t think badly of him. But she realized that she couldn’t actually defend him. She didn’t know who he wanted to purge or why he wanted to purge; not that having a reason would matter because despite having killed tonight, herself, Sansa still saw no good reason to purposely be out tonight, purging.

Beth coughed then and their attention was instantly on her.

“Hey,” Robb gave her the gentlest smile, crouching down closer to her.

She turned her head to look at him and his hand went to the top of her head. “Hey,” she whispered.

Sansa couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She knew that her brother had had a crush on her best friend/roommate for quite a while now but she was dating Harry so Robb had obviously stayed back. And Sansa felt truly awful for thinking it but Robb didn’t have to worry about Harry anymore.

“Do you know where one of these hospitals are?” Sansa asked.

Arya nodded. “We’ll get her there. And you’re coming with us. You’ll be safe there until Purge night ends.”

Sansa knew what her answer should be. There shouldn’t have even been an answer. Of course she should go to the hospital and stay with Beth and her siblings. She needed to get off the streets because yes, the night was almost done but it wasn’t done yet, and too much had already happened. She needed to be safe.

But she didn’t say that. Instead, she looked to Jon.

He had heard that and he was now looking to the back of the ambulance. Sansa looked to her siblings and Beth once before she climbed down from the ambulance to stand with Jon.

“You’re going with them,” he said; as if already knowing that she was going to say something else.

It was as if Sansa wasn’t in control of her own brain at the moment because as soon as Jon said that to her, she was shaking her head in disagreement.

“I’m not leaving you out here. Come with me.”

“No,” Jon now shook his head. “I’m not done yet.”

“You are.” She took one of his hands into hers. “It’s done, Jon. Whatever your plans were or what you wanted to do tonight… please. Don’t do it,” she whispered that last part.

Hearing sirens, they both turned their heads just as a fire truck – torched and on fire – sped past. They then looked back to one another. She didn’t say anything else – yet. She just held his hand and gave it the slightest squeeze. Jon stared into her eyes and her heart sank when he shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said. “I came out here tonight for a reason.”

“I know you did-” She may not have known the details for his purging reasons but she knew. “-but, please Jon. This isn’t you. You’re not the kind of person to be out here tonight. I know you’re not.”

A man who had kept her save all of this time, who had helped her best friend, and who had kissed her like he had, that was not a man who was out here, purging on purpose.

Jon glanced to the ambulance – and to her siblings who were pretending to not watch them – before he looked back to Sansa. “I can’t,” he said again; much quieter now.

“Jon,” she tried again.

“Sansa, go with your brother, sister and Beth. Go to the hospital. Get through the night.”

“No.” The answer was firm and she held onto his hand and didn’t let it go. “You haven’t left me and now, I’m not going to leave you.”

“Yes, you are. Where I’m going, you can’t come with me.”

“Where are you going? Please, Jon. Who are you after?”

He stared at her and she already knew he wasn’t going to tell her, and yet, she had asked anyway. She wanted to know. She needed to know. This man who kissed her and who kept her safe, she wanted to see him tomorrow morning and the day after that; hopefully the day after that, too. And she liked to think that he had kissed her because he wanted to see her, too, past tonight.

But she needed to know who he was going to purge.

It wouldn’t matter what his answer was. She told herself that. This man had done everything to keep her safe and alive tonight. He wasn’t a bad man. Even a man who was out here, tonight, wasn’t a bad man if he had done everything Jon had done.

Jon stared at her, clearly debating whether he should tell her or not.

He then took a deep breath. “My father.”

“Sansa!” Arya and Robb both shouted – before Sansa could even register Jon’s answer – and Jon suddenly grabbed Sansa, practically throwing her into the backseat of Beth’s car, the door still open, just as the rocket exploded into the wall of the building behind them.

The air exploded with brick and debris and Jon’s body was heavy on top of hers, hiding her as best as he could as the explosion rocked Beth’s car, setting off the alarm.

Sansa’s ears went out for a moment and all she heard was a ringing. Slowly, it came back to her and she could hear Jon yelling, “Go, go!” through the open car door. And then, “Ghost!” She didn’t know who he was yelling at or what he was doing but then, Jon’s body was off of hers and he was pulling himself into the front seat again. Sansa managed to sit up and through her window, she saw that it was a group of three, all masked, and that one was kneeling on the ground across the street, the rocket launcher on his shoulder, and he was ready to fire again.

“Ghost!” Sansa shouted now and the dog came bursting from the alley he had hidden down and came leaping into the backseat with her.

She reached over him to slam the door shut and just as the rocket launched, Jon slammed his foot on the gas and took off down the street. Looking out the back window, Sansa saw the ambulance with Robb, Arya and Beth take off in the opposite direction.

Her heart was pounding and her ears were still ringing.

“That was a bank,” she panted as if she just finished a sprint. “I thought all of the money was out of the banks tonight. Don’t they know that?”

“They must be after something other than money,” Jon said.

Sansa closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat. Her arm was still across Ghost and she gave the dog a squeeze now. It was silent as Jon drove them away and she wondered if – somehow – he was going to catch up with her siblings and the ambulance again but she didn’t know if he would be able to.

She didn’t know if she wanted him to.

She wanted to be with Robb, Arya and Beth, yes, but… she didn’t want to leave Jon either.

Once they were a few blocks away, Jon began to slow down and Sansa opened her eyes again. They were still somewhere in the financial district, she thought they were, and he stopped them in front of a fire hydrant. For some reason, that made her smile. Anything really did go tonight.

“I have to pee,” she said.

Jon turned in his seat to look at her in the backseat. “Me, too,” he gave her the smallest smile.

She looked at him and went back to his answer. “You’re out here to purge your father?” She heard her voice ask the question and yet, it didn’t sound right.

“Yeah.” Jon didn’t deny it. She had been expecting him to for some reason. “Ex-father. Sperm donor. Whatever you want to call him. He left my mom when I was around one and barely helped out. Would sometimes send her money. She tried to take him to court for child support a couple of times but he always had the money for so much better legal help than her. She got sick last year and I don’t know why but I thought I could get him to help with the bills.”

Sansa knew how the story ended. It was obvious and her heart ached.

“I understand,” she whispered.

Though did she really? Ned Stark was the best dad in the world and he would do anything for his family. Her dad would never abandon them; not even _think_ of such a thing. She wasn’t so naïve though. She knew some moms and dads were awful and should never have been parents in the first place. But even then…

She moved and sat on the edge of the seat, lifting her hands and putting them on either side of Jon’s face. “You’re too good for this, Jon. I know you are. Please don’t purge him.”

Jon looked at her and he began to slowly shake his head. “I have to. He deserves it.”

“You’re better than the Purge, Jon. I know that, too.”

Jon didn’t say anything to that. He just kept looking at her and her lips were already tingling as Jon moved his head towards hers and his lips met hers. Sansa felt herself sag against him and her hands slid back from his face so her arms could wrap around his shoulders. Jon’s hand went to the back of her neck, keeping her lips to his – as if she was thinking of pulling them away – and the seat was between them but Sansa edged closer; trying to get so much closer to him.

But a gun being shot off – close – had their lips separate.

“We can’t stay here,” Jon was the first to state the obvious.

Sansa nodded. She was trying to think of how to keep him from getting to his father tonight but she wasn’t quite sure how to. Yet. She would think of something though. She wasn’t going to let Jon purge; no matter how much reason he thought he had. Jon _was_ too good for that _._

Slowly, they, with Ghost, got out of the car. Sansa pulled her ski mask down and Jon did the same with his skeleton mask and both armed themselves with their guns. Jon silently led them into an alley, sweeping it first. He then pointed to a spot behind the dumpster and Sansa nodded.

She hurried behind it and unbuttoning her jeans, pushing them to her knees, she crouched down. As she peed, she closed her eyes. She was not going to dwell on the fact that she was peeing in some dirty alley on Purge night. That truly was the least of her worries. Somewhere close – yet far enough away for privacy – Sansa could hear Jon peeing as well.

They both finished about the same time and after getting herself together again, she stood up. She and Jon met eyes and they shared a smile. The moment broke though when Ghost began growling and then barking and they both pointed their guns to the alley’s opening when a pickup truck squealed to a stop in front of them. _The_ pickup truck; the one that had been chasing after her as soon as the sirens blared out at the beginning of the Purge.

Sansa screamed when one of them aimed and fired their gun directly to Jon, hitting him in the chest. Another fired at Ghost but missed and with a yelp, Ghost took off down the alley.

“Jon!” She screamed for him as he crumbled to the ground.

Two men from the truck jumped out and grabbed Sansa before she could run. She tried to struggle and kick at them but they dragged her back to the truck anyway as if she wasn’t doing anything at all. If they were going to kill her, what were they waiting for? And why were they after her?

Despite Sansa’s flailing body, one of the men picked her up and tossed her none-too-gently into the pickup’s back bed. She scrambled up and fired her gun but missed – wildly – and they laughed at her as one of them grabbed her arm, twisting it around, making her cry out and lose the grip on the gun.

“Petyr Baelish paid a pretty penny for you,” one of the men informed her. “Time to go get paid!”

The other men laughed as they took off, keeping Sansa’s arm behind her back so she couldn’t move and she looked to Jon, still unmoving on the ground. She felt tears brim her eyes and she couldn’t even scream. She couldn’t do anything. There was nothing to do. She was caught. She couldn’t get away. Her boss had paid for her and God knows what he was going to do to her.

Through her tears, she saw something white running after the truck, following it.

Following her.

It was Ghost.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much for me wanting to update this on Halloween lol THANK YOU very much for reading! Once again, I have fallen behind on comments but I promise I'll get to them! Thank you again!!


	7. Chapter 7

…

“Fuck.”

Jon slowly sat up with gritted teeth. His hand went to his chest – right to where the bullet hit him – and thank God for the bulletproof vest but it still hurt. A lot. To put it mildly.

Sansa was gone and so was Ghost. He didn’t know if either were still alive but he had to go after them. He had to get Sansa back. This was the Purge. _Anything_ could be done to her tonight and with how beautiful Sansa was… his mind instantly went to things that a group of men would do to her. He _had_ to get her back. He would do anything to get her back.

Jon yelled at himself to get up and using the wall behind him, he pushed himself back to his feet.

Reaching into one of the pockets of his coat, he pulled out the small tracker. On the screen, he saw the steady, beeping green dot, moving north. Ghost was still alive.

Jon had been planning for this night for too long and knowing he would bring his dog with him, Jon had planned even more. There were all sorts of stores that sold things specifically for the Purge. Costumes, weapons, technology such as this. Normally, knowing how the government operated on this night, Jon would stay far away from any kind of technology but he had made an exception for Ghost.

The chip was on Ghost’s collar. Jon had taken his identification tags off that night but had left the collar on as well as the tracking chip. And looking at the moving dot now, if Jon knew his dog, he didn’t doubt that Ghost was following after Sansa and those men. They were obviously taking her somewhere and Jon had to get to her before they got there.

Finally feeling like he was able to breathe, and making sure he had his guns, Jon left the alley, going back to Beth’s car parking in front of fire hydrant.

“Fuck,” he said again when he saw the tires. The men may not have been smart enough to shoot him in the head – thank God – but they had been smart enough to shoot out his tires.

Looked like he had some running to do.

The night might have been nearing seven o’clock but there were no signs of the Purge slowing down. If anything, it got even more insane and vicious as people tried to do it all before the sirens blared again.

Following the tracker’s beeping dot, Jon broke out into a run. Not a full sprint. He didn’t want to tire out immediately and force himself to slow down but a steady run. He passed fires, dead bodies and his feet crunched on broken glass. Anytime he saw someone, he was quick to either fire – if he had a good shot – or slip down to hide behind random things or in doorways.

He needed a car. He didn’t know how far away they were taking Sansa and going this way was taking too long. Sansa might not have long at all and he had to get to Ghost before something happened to him, too.

He felt shitty for doing it. He really did. He had already killed far more people tonight than he thought he would have to but tonight, it was very much either them or him (and Sansa and Ghost). That was enough for Jon to keep his eyes open and his gun at the ready for any kind of sign of some form of transportation.

The white panel van was parked on the corner with its back doors were both open. From the inside, Jon could hear screaming. He was almost afraid to approach it but he needed a vehicle to get him to Sansa and Ghost. The green dot was still moving – Ghost still running after and keeping up with Sansa – Jon had to get to them.

He slowed to silent his steps as he crept along the side of the van – first checking in the front that there wasn’t someone sitting there, on guard. It was empty. He then silently moved towards the back. There was another scream – a woman obviously experiencing a lot of pain – and peeking around the door, Jon saw why.

There was a man back there, wearing an apron stained in blood, and he was leaning over a woman, strapped to some sort of stretcher on the floor. He was cutting her – cutting _into_ her – and Jon didn’t hesitate. He lifted his gun and fired straight into the man’s head. The woman screamed again as the man fell over, dead, and Jon grabbed the man’s ankles, dragging him out and dropping his body onto the ground. He then leapt into the back of the van and looking over the woman, he saw that she was bleeding – a lot. She might not make it even if Jon had killed the guy.

“I need the van and I’m not leaving you out here. You’re coming, too,” Jon informed her as he began undoing the straps from around her ankles and wrists.

The woman nodded quickly, looking up at him with wide, wet – terrified – eyes.

“Close the doors for me,” Jon said as he began crawling into the front seat. He looked over his shoulder to see if she was doing that but instead, she was running.

She had leapt down from the van and was running, limping, down the street, screaming – like an idiot so anyone could hear her. Jon kept himself from sighing as he went to close the doors himself. He couldn’t blame her for not trusting a stranger tonight but he _had_ just saved her from being butchered by a psychopath, but whatever. She wasn’t going to make it anyway.

With the doors closed and locked, Jon crawled through the van back to the front seats.

“Nice,” he noted to himself when he looked at the windshield.

He worked for a security systems company – the largest and most popular – SafelySafe. They were the premiere security system for anyone’s Purge safety needs. Jon spent his days working on people’s homes, installing top-of-the-line security that would keep them, their loved ones and their homes safe during this one night.

Looking into the company’s system of verified accounts, that was how Jon found his “father”. Just checking for routine maintenance checks, of course. Rhaegar had invested in a SafelySafe security system for his house – _mansion_ – and though every system was installed with a code pad that only the owner had the code for, Jon had felt confident that he knew these systems well enough to know how to override them. He could.

It was how he looked at this windshield and knew that it was SafelySafe glass. It couldn’t be smashed or broken. No bullets of any kind could penetrate it. This was the best glass to have for this night and Jon was grateful to see that that psycho serial killer had invested money into his murder van.

The keys were still in the ignition and Jon pulled away from the curb and following Ghost’s green dot, he began driving as fast he dared. There was another blockade of fires and people with guns but Jon didn’t slow down. He plowed right through them, not caring if he hit any along the way.

He didn’t have time to care or worry. The dot was still beeping but it had stopped, which let Jon know that wherever Sansa had been taken, the men had arrived and Ghost was waiting.

…

After paying the men and sending them off – making sure they did actually leave – Petyr Baelish closed the door behind them and hit the button so the steel wall lowered over the door once again and the security system was set.

Sansa stood in the front hallway, shaking.

What was she doing here? Why did her boss _pay_ for her to be here?

Sansa could guess though and it only made her shake harder; uncontrollably.

Baelish Finances was an international company that invested money for some of the wealthiest people in the entire world and Sansa had been working there for three years now as Petyr’s assistant. He had three of them but for whatever reason, Sansa seemed to be his favorite. Unfortunately. His smiles and lingering touches could not be ignored but it wasn’t anything that Sansa could stop. He was the boss. The CEO. His name was the name of the company. Who would she go to? HR? Please.

And yes, she could have quit. She was very well aware of that but… it was her own fault. The money and benefits – even for being an assistant – had just been too good and she had been willing to put up with it. She never thought he would ever come after her on Purge night. 

That had led her here. By putting up with it, her boss had now _paid_ for her to be kidnapped during the Purge and brought to him so he could do God knows what.

“Are you cold, Sansa?” Petyr appeared at her side, his hand brushing down her back. “You’re shivering.”

“What am I doing here?” Sansa stared at him, her body stiff at just his first touch. How stiff was she going to be in the next couple of hours before it was seven and the sirens blared at the end of the night?

Petyr smiled at her. He was a man of oil. Even his smile was. “I was hoping you would be here at the beginning of the night. That way we could spend the whole time together.” Sansa shivered again at that. “Would you like something to eat? I’m sure you’ve had a long night. I also have something far more comfortable for you to change into.”

_I’m sure_ , Sansa thought silently to herself.

She thought of Jon. She knew he was wearing a bulletproof vest and the man had shot him in the chest. She knew he was fine. At least, he had been when the men took her away. But he had no idea where she was. No one did. She was trapped here until seven o’clock – just her and Petyr Baelish – and he might not have been the biggest man, but could he overpower her? Sansa was going to have to fight like Hell.

And she was prepared to.

She had been through so much tonight and had lived to tell about it and she was _not_ going to let this oily man beat her tonight.

What could she do thought? She couldn’t get out. She knew these security systems. SafelySafe was top-of-the-line. It was what her parents had on their own home and each came was a keypad for a code. The only person who programed the code would know what it was. Her parents were the only two who knew the code to their home. They hadn’t even shared it with their own children.

Could she guess Petyr’s code and get out? No. She wouldn’t have time to guess. There was no time. Even as his personal assistant, she had no idea what his code was or what it could be. It was four digits long and those four digits could be anything.

What else could she do? She could knee him in the balls and run and hide. But that would only give her so much head start. He would eventually recover and come after her. And this was his house. He’d be able to find her. _He_ had the time to find her.

Those men had taken her gun and she didn’t have -

She looked to the man. “Would I be able to use your bathroom?” She asked him.

Petyr smiled, clearly pleased with that question. He must have thought that she was accepting this.

He took her hand – as if he had a single right in the world to do so – and he just doing so made Sansa’s entire body begin to ache for Jon and his hand holding hers. She felt the tears before she could stop them. She could only imagine what Petry was going to do – or plan to do – and Jon had no idea where she was. She was all alone. She had to do something or at least die trying because she was fully prepared to die rather than let Petyr Baelish do anything to her.

“It’s this way, sweetling,” Petyr said, directing her up the stairs.

Sansa swallowed, tasting the bile in her throat.

He led her down the hallway to the bedroom at the end, the double doors open, revealing the luxurious master suite. On the bed, she saw the sleek white dress. It was practically see through and Sansa knew that he fully intended her to change into this while wearing nothing beneath.

She swallowed the bile down again.

Petyr still held her hand and he led her across the carpeted floor to the bathroom. He reached in and flipped on the lights before turning back to her.

“Now, you get yourself cleaned up and I’ll be waiting for you. We’ll get something in your stomach,” he said and then actually reached a hand out to rub her stomach through her clothes.

It took everything inside of Sansa to keep herself from screaming out and slapping him.

She had to act like she was going along with this. She had to act like she _wanted_ this and wouldn’t put up a fight. She couldn’t give him any reason to make him want to search her. He was assuming that those men had already searched her and they had taken the gun from her but they _hadn’t_ searched her and Sansa need to make sure that Petyr didn’t search her either.

“That sounds great,” she managed to say.

“I know that this wasn’t the best way to court you,” Petyr continued and she hid her impatience. “But it wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to woo you on any other night besides this one. I am your boss,” he then reminded her with a chuckle; explaining why he couldn’t pursue her and reminding her that he was her boss and he was in charge.

“Raping me is wooing me?” Sansa blurted out before she couldn’t.

Petyr’s smile remained on his face yet somehow, it seemed to become even _more_ smarmy.

“No one is raping you tonight, Sansa,” he informed her. “You’ll want it. You might not think so but you will.” His hand brushed up her stomach so he could cup her chin. “When you’re done cleaning up, take off your clothes. I want you to come out naked.”

She looked at him and it was the same in the convenience store after she had killed that woman.

There was something inside of Sansa and at his words, she was able to shut it off. She would deal with it later; just not now. Right now, she had to get herself out of this.

“Yes, Mr. Baelish,” she said in her obedient tone that she used at work when he asked her to do something.

Petyr smiled then and he pulled her gently forward so he was able to kiss her. It might have been soft but there was nothing gentle about it. He commandeered the kiss; took the lead. Let her know that he was in charge. His lips were dry and there was nothing soft or sweet about this kiss like kisses were with Jon.

Jon…

Sansa managed to give him a smile before turning and going into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

The instant she clicked the lock in place, tears brimmed her eyes and a few slipped out, trickling down her cheeks. She sniffled and wiped at him impatiently. There was no time for that. Later, Sansa, later. After the siren blared and the Purge was done tonight.

She hurried to the sink and turned on the faucet, the rushing water masking what she was doing.

She took off her messenger bag and set it on the counter. When she and Jon first started this evening, he had handed her a gun to carry in here. It was a tiny gun, fitting just into her hand, and throughout the night, Sansa had done some arranging, slipping the gun into the inside pouch of the bag. She breathed when she pulled it out now, testing the weight of it in her hand. So small and so light, it almost didn’t look like a gun at all. But it was. _It was_. And it was going to do exactly what she needed it to do.

When Jon had handed it to her, asking if she had room to carry it, Sansa had to wonder now if at the time, Jon had, somehow, known that she would need it.

Figuring that Petyr was listening on the other side of the door, Sansa turned off the water and then began to take off her clothes. She wanted him to hear that she was complying.

Once naked, she took the gun again and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn’t like what this night had done to her. She hardly recognized her own reflection.

She took a deep breath and she moved to unlock the door. She had taken long enough; probably too long and she couldn’t stay in here forever - unfortunately. She had to take care of this. Tonight.

Opening it, she paused in the doorway. Petyr was no longer at the door but he was lying on the bed now and her stomach rolled at the sight. He was also completely naked and when he saw Sansa, he pushed himself up onto one elbow, his eyes roving up and down her naked body.

“Beautiful,” he breathed. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and I knew you would be beautiful like this, too. I knew it.”

The gun was small in her hand and he didn’t see it as it hung at her side. He wasn’t looking for it She didn’t know how powerful it would be and she wanted to get as close as she could. She took slow steps to the bed.

“And what do you think of what you see?” Petyr asked, smiling as if this was surely the best thing that could ever happen to her. He glanced down to his naked frame before back to her.

Sansa lifted the gun, aiming it for his head. “Lacking,” she said before squeezing the trigger.

…

SafelySafe was strong and secure and nearly impenetrable. _Nearly_. But a person had to know their way around the system to crack it and luckily, Jon did.

Finding Ghost hiding in a bush just outside the gate that led into the driveway, panting and catching his breath from running so fast and so far, Jon took a moment to look the keypad next to the driveway over. He then crouched down, opening one of the pouches on Ghost’s vest. Guns and ammunition weren’t the only things he brought with him tonight.

Taking the small toolkit, he pulled out the screwdriver. Back to the keypad, he unscrewed the front pad and pulled it off, tossing it to the ground. He had no idea who lived here or why they had wanted Sansa but those were two questions he didn’t give a shit about. All he cared about was getting her back.

The sky was lightening. It was still two hours away until the end of the Purge but so much could still happen in two hours. He thought of his “father”. He wouldn’t be able to get to him tonight. Not before the sires blared. And so many months of careful plans in anticipation for tonight were slipping further and further away from him with each passing minute but right now, Jon’s mind was on Sansa and Sansa only.

Inside of the keypad box, there was a tangle of wires and this is what a person would attempt to figure out in order to open the gate and lift the steel walls over the doors and windows. But the wires were a deterrence. The person trying to crack them didn’t know that but Jon did. Obviously, the wires all had a purpose and were important but not to overriding the security system.

He moved his hands past all of the wires and held the flashlight between his teeth so he could find it. On the back inside of the box, there was another keypad. Again, if a person did find this past all of those wires, they would look at the keypad and try to figure out which numbers they should try.

But Jon hit the # pound key four times. Just like that.

The small light on the gate turned from red to green with the tiniest beep and as the gate rolled back, the steel walls over the windows and doors began to roll up. He, with Ghost at his side, began heading up the driveway, his gun in his hands – reloaded – and the gun on his back, both ready to go. Sansa was inside and he was going to kill anyone he had to to get her back.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU!! 
> 
> As I mentioned, the Purge night always moves quickly and sometimes, some people just need to be handled quickly lol
> 
> There are actually only a couple more chapters planned (I never outlined this one to be a long story) and the sirens blare in the next chapter BUT Jon and Sansa have a few more things to do before the end of the Purge. 
> 
> Thank you again!


	8. Chapter 8

…

As soon as Jon and Ghost were through the front door of the house, Jon hit the # pound key four times once again to bring the steel walls down. There were too many windows – floor to ceiling – and he didn’t need anyone else to come in here. He didn’t know how many were in here already. He was silent, beginning to creep down the main hallway, peeking into the living room and dining rooms but they were both empty.

_Pop! Pop! Pop!_

It came from upstairs and Jon didn’t hesitate. He and Ghost spun for the stairs and ran, taking two at a time. The doors at the end of the hallway were open and Jon didn’t know how but he knew that that was where he was supposed to go.

Bursting into the room, gun raised, he stopped himself short. There was a naked man on the bed, bleeding out. He was still breathing but he was choking on his blood. It was hard to tell where he had been shot but from what Jon could tell, one was in the man’s crotch – that made Jon wince a little – one was in his chest and one had grazed his neck. It was slow-going but he was bleeding out. Jon would have shot him himself but that would speed things up and this man deserved to lie there, in excruciating pain, feeling himself dying.

He heard something from another door in the bedroom – the large walk-in closet – and with his gun raised again, Jon moved towards it slowly.

Sansa was kneeling on the floor beneath a neat row of hanging shirts and she was wearing a white bathrobe. She saw him from the corner of her eye and with a gasp, she grabbed the tiny gun he had given her to hold at the beginning of the night from the floor next to her and aimed it. When she saw that it was him, she exhaled a shaky breath and hurried to her feet.

“Jon,” she whispered and Jon dropped his gun to the floor just as Sansa rushed to him. She threw her arms around him and Jon hugged her tight and close. She didn’t ask how he had found her. Maybe she already had figured it out – though how she could have known about Ghost’s tracking chip, he didn’t know. Or maybe, she had thought, deep down, that somehow, he would have found her no matter what.

She wasn’t wrong.

He wanted to ask her what happened and what this man had done to her but he didn’t think he would be able to hear the answer. He was a coward. So instead, he pulled his head back and lifted his hands to her face, locking their eyes together.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Sansa nodded and looked past him to see the man on the bed, still breathing – but now, barely – and she looked back to Jon again. “He’s my boss,” she let him know. “I _was_ his personal assistant and he’s been… he’s been trying to get me here all night.”

Jon put his hands to her cheeks and kissed her on the forehead. “Good job,” he commended her and that made her smile – even with her wet eyes.

“I know his combinations,” she said, stepping back from him and returning to the floor. Jon stepped into the closet to see what she was doing and he saw that she was kneeling in front of a safe. Ghost pushed his way into the closet, too, to come sniff at Sansa and see what she was doing as well. “He never told me the code for his security system but these combinations, I know. I also have access to his financial files on his computer downstairs.”

Jon nodded, not needing her to explain what she was planning. Whatever Sansa was taking tonight, she deserved it. He looked to the shelves next to him of watches and cufflinks. He let out a whistle, unable to stop himself. This guy was loaded – to put it mildly.

Sansa lifted her head after she hit the numbers on the keypad and the safe unlocked with a click. “Take what you want,” she told him.

“We have just under two hours,” Jon said and she nodded. He watched as she began pulling out stacks – literal stacks – of money, banded together.

He went out into the bedroom again, going to the bed. The man was choking now, gasping his last breaths, and Jon stared down at the man as he began grabbing the pillows, pulling the pillowcases off. He wanted to shoot this man – badly – but he had been Sansa’s kill and Jon wasn’t taking that away from her.

“Sansa,” he went back to the closet and tossed her two of the cases. He kept one for himself and began taking every watch the man had. He took a few pairs of sunglasses. The cufflinks looked to be actual gold and he took those, too. Some of them glittered with diamonds. God, the money this man had.

In her pillowcases, Sansa began putting in the stacks of money, emptying the safe. There were some legal-size envelopes as well that she took out.

“What are those?” Jon had to wonder.

“Stock certificates. Real estate deeds.”

Jon didn’t ask what she was going to do with those. One thing the country was the days after the Purge was understanding. If Sansa showed up with paperwork all in this guy’s name – while she clearly wasn’t the guy – there would be no questions asked. What happened on this night stayed on this night.

“Do you want to get dressed?”

Sansa finished emptying the safe and stood up, handing him the pillowcase. “Do you want any of his clothes?” She asked him instead. “Top of the line, of course.”

Jon glanced to the shirts and sweaters. He shook his head. “Won’t fit me.”

She smiled at that. She took steps towards him and her hand came to a rest on his chest; over where the bullet had knocked him back. She fingered the indentation in the vest for a moment before she lifted her head and pressed her lips to his.

Jon didn’t hesitate to kiss her back, one hand gliding onto the side of her neck while the other slipped onto her hip. He guided her head slightly to the side and she moaned as he kissed her deeply, his tongue thrusting into her mouth, slowly tangling with hers in a sensual dance that made her moan.

Never separating her mouth from his, her hands slipped onto the back of his head, her fingers scratching through his hair, messing the bun he had it tied back in, and when she began leaning backwards, pulling him with her, Jon gladly followed until they were both lying down on the carpeted floor of the closet. Ghost had gone off somewhere, perhaps to explore the rest of the house. The robe Sansa wore was loosening and Jon took it upon himself to open it the rest of the way as Sansa’s hands went to his jeans, working on the button and zipper. He stopped kissing her long enough to look down at her naked body beneath him and he exhaled a shaky breath.

To no surprise to him, Sansa was absolutely gorgeous.

He reached down with one hand and she gasped as he began rubbing her between her thighs, feeling how wet she almost instantly became. It made him groan, too, and he leaned down for another kiss.

Sansa gasped, her mouth breaking away from Jon’s, as she suddenly felt two of his fingers slip inside of her. Her gasp turned into a moan and she pressed her hips down against his hand. His lips were on the side of her neck, his beard scratching her skin, and she moaned again right in his ear, making him move his fingers just a little bit faster; a little bit deeper, stretching her, her back bowing off the floor in response. He felt himself grow painfully hard and he wouldn’t be able to last long, he already knew. He wanted her to cum with his fingers but they didn’t have that much time and unfortunately in Jon’s opinion, they had to be quick about this.

Jon pushed his jeans and boxer-briefs down himself, to his thighs. He stroked his cock a couple times though it was completely unnecessary. She was absolutely soaked and he could not remember the last time he was this hard. He actually found himself smiling a little as he looked down at her.

“What?” Sansa noticed immediately.

He shook his head. “This wasn’t at all the Purge night I planned,” he said and Sansa smiled, too.

They both moaned as he pushed inside of her, her body stretching to accommodate him. Jon usually was better than this. He liked to take his time but again, they just didn’t have time for that. His thrusts were hard and fast and Sansa’s moans grew louder and louder until she was practically shouting for him. In the back of his mind, Jon had to hope that her boss was still _barely_ alive because Sansa let out a scream of his name – _JON!_ – and Jon hoped that that was the last thing her boss heard in this world.

…

Sansa stayed upstairs to clean herself up and get dressed and Jon carried their pillowcases downstairs to leave them by the front door. When the sirens blared at seven o’clock, they had to be outside. Not just out of the house but out of the driveway entirely. This man’s house was private property and if they were still here at seven o’clock, they were breaking the law and could be arrested.

They still had time but Jon wanted them back out to the van by ten till seven.

Jon wondered around the first floor of this man’s house and he still couldn’t believe the wealth this man surrounded him with. It just _smelled_ like money in here. The finest of everything and Jon was afraid to touch anything because even though the man was dead, it still felt like a museum and Jon _shouldn’t_ touch anything.

He found himself in the man’s library because _of course_ this man had an extensive home library. He walked along the shelves, looking at the titles, and then, he almost choked on his tongue.

What the fuck? That couldn’t possibly be real…

It was a very old book and Jon handled it as delicately as he could, opening the front cover to peer inside. His breath momentarily stopped as he stared down at it, his brain understanding what he was looking at but his brain also not processing it – at all.

_The Canterbury Tales_ , first edition, 1477. This book, it was worth _millions_.

Jon turned and set it on the nearby desk and then began looking to the shelves again.

By the time Sansa found him again, he had a small pile of other first edition books. She smiled when she saw what he was doing and didn’t at all seem surprised by it.

“Mr. Baelish always prided himself on his various collections,” she said as she sat herself down at the desk and fired up his computer.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jon said, amazed. “And is that an actual Picasso?”

“Yep,” she nodded without having to look at the piece of art on the wall Jon was referencing. “Ezra and David Nahmad own the most valuable art collection in the world. It’s estimated at about $3 billion. They have a warehouse just filled with art that they keep before selling for a ton more than they paid for it. Mr. Baelish dealt with the Nahmad brothers often.”

“Should I…” Jon trailed off, still staring at the painting. He didn’t know shit about art but he knew Picasso. Who didn’t know Picasso? It wasn’t exactly his taste but he wasn’t about to start being an art critic.

“You should,” she smiled. She began typing when the computer booted up and it prompted for a password.

He was careful to remove the painting from the wall and he carried it out, leaving it by the front door, before returning to the office to gather the first editions he was taking with him as well.

“What are you doing?” Jon asked, coming around the back of the chair to stand behind Sansa, and looked to the computer screen though all he saw was a bunch of spreadsheets he obviously didn’t understand.

She smelled a little like sex – Jon was certain he smelled the same – and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down and kissing the side of her throat, feeling her jaw move as she smiled. He smiled, too.

“As his personal assistant, Mr. Baelish would rely on me to do his banking. Pay bills, balance accounts, that sort of thing. The same with the company. He obviously had those in payroll but he trusted very few people and I have access to the company’s finances, too. He always wanted to keep an eye on everyone.”

Jon frowned a little as he looked back to the computer screen. “And he what? Thought that kidnapping and raping you on Purge night would be welcome and you wouldn’t do something like this to him _next_ Purge?”

Sansa shrugged. “I think he expected me to love it.” She whispered that and Jon didn’t say anything else.

He watched her as she began working quickly. There wasn’t that much time left.

She began typing quickly, dragging things into different files and typing more passwords and opening new screens. Jon wasn’t good with computers – he could get himself around them for the most part but _nothing_ like what Sansa was doing.

“What are you doing?” He finally asked.

“I’m dividing Mr. Baelish’s accounts and the company’s funds. The employees are each receiving an equal portion of the company profits into their bank accounts and I-” she paused as she clicked a few more things. “-have just emptied his personal accounts into mine.”

Jon grinned and she finished by clicking and confirming a few more things.

“Work should be interesting for you,” he chuckled.

“Oh! Thank you for reminding me!” She opened another screen and began typing, her fingers flying. “I’m submitting my official letter of resignation.”

“Good.” Because although he had just met her tonight and her boss was dead upstairs, he already cared too much about Sansa for her to have to go back to her job. He looked to the clock. “We have to get outside.”

Sansa nodded in agreement and everything finished now, she shut down the computer.

“I just need one more thing from the kitchen.”

Jon followed her; curious as to what this man had in the kitchen that would be worth taking. They had already cleaned him out of just about everything.

Sansa went to the counter and unplugged what looked to be a very fancy coffee machine. “It’s an $800 espresso machine and he was always trying to have me over for coffee. I wanted this machine. Not him.”

Jon was grinning again. Of all of the things they had both done tonight, stealing an espresso machine just might have been the craziest, and yes, that included having sex on her boss’s closet’s floor.

“Now we can go,” she said as she held the machine with both arms.

“Good. It’s almost time.”

“Thank God.”

It took them a couple of trips. Jon stood guard at the van, gun ready and his eyes on the sharp lookout, as Sansa carried everything they wanted from the house. Ghost was sniffing at the ground before relieving himself – nice and long – on the man’s mailbox. A fitting end, if Jon did say so himself.

The sky was almost fully lit now and he looked up and down the street. The house across the street, a car pulled into the driveway, and a man and woman got out, still in their masks, stained with blood on the front of their clothes, and brandishing their guns. They stopped when they saw Jon and for a moment, the couple and Jon stared at one another, both wondering what the other was going to do.

The siren hadn’t blared yet. It was still the Purge.

Jon felt his fingers tighten around his gun in preparation.

But then, the woman continued walking up the path to the house’s front door and the man held up a hand, as if he and Jon were friends and he was waving good morning. Jon didn’t wave back and watched the couple closely as they unlocked their own security system and went into their house. Only then did Jon breathe again. He looked back to the house as Sansa was coming out with the last two pillowcases.

“Run!” Jon called out to her and Sansa didn’t hesitate to do just that. He just wanted to be overly careful.

Her feet were firm on the street and off the man’s driveway. Jon took note of the address so he could call the government’s number that would send people out to collect the body inside.

And as Sansa loaded the pillowcases into the back of the van to join the others and the espresso machine and Picasso painting, the sirens blared out, echoing throughout the sky for all to hear, signaling the end of the Purge. Jon sagged heavily against the side of the van. They had made it.

Sansa came around to stand in front of him.

She looked at him for a moment and she then said, quietly, “I’m sorry you didn’t get to do what you really wanted to do tonight.”

He knew she was talking about his dad but honestly, he hadn’t thought about that in a couple of hours. Coming out here tonight, that had been his plan. Go to his dad’s house, override the security system and kill him. He had been planning it for months; since his mom’s funeral and the hospital bills were still coming in.

But his whole night was changed when he saw this girl running and it took a split second for him to decide to save her by pulling her into that alley. Sansa was right. They were better than animals and killing his dad wouldn’t solve anything. It would be satisfying for a minute. Maybe even an hour. But his mom would still be dead and he would still have bills to pay. All of the first editions should more than help with those.

He looked at Sansa standing in front of him. He didn’t get to do what he had planned to do but something far better actually came out of the Purge night and he _never_ expected that or saw it coming.

“I’m not,” he said and she smiled faintly as he took her hands and gently pulled her into him. Her arms slid around his shoulders as his went around her waist and they shared a soft kiss. “Usually, what happens on this night stays on this night, but would you like to go get a cup of coffee with me?” He asked.

When she laughed lightly, he smiled.

“Yes,” Sansa readily agreed. “And with my new fancy espresso machine, _I_ can make it for us.”

Jon grinned at that before kissing her again. 

But then, they both froze. Their lips were still together but they were no longer kissing. They heard it and it was getting closer.

Ke$ha was coming down the street.

They turned their heads at the same time as the car drove past and they watched as it pulled into the driveway of the house next door. The back door opened and a Candy Girl got out, still in her tutu and holding her gun, but her mask was gone. She and the other girls inside were laughing at something.

“Not a bad night,” she told her friends. “And don’t worry. We’ll get Mr. Tarly next year.”

Hearing her words – and knowing that Sam was still alright – Jon breathed with relief. He watched as the girl skipped merrily to her front door as the car backed away and drove off down the street. Jon looked back to Sansa and opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Sansa beat him to it.

“Let’s get her address for next year. Just in case.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU!! I had fun with this chapter - not going to lie. And random - Ezra and David Nahmad are real brothers who do own one of the most expensive art collections in the world. 
> 
> An epilogue is the next chapter/last chapter and actually, it's the idea I had in my head that made me write this entire story. 
> 
> (PS - I'm not saying Sansa wants to go out on Purge night ever again but finding out where a Candy Girl lives isn't the worst thing in the world.)


	9. Chapter 9

…

**March 21 st – 4:40 p.m. – 2 hr. 20 minutes until Commencement **

Jon took Ghost for an extra long walk before it started because he wouldn’t be able to go out until tomorrow morning. Sansa laid pee-pads down for him – which the dog never used because Jon thought Ghost found them insulting – but still, Jon liked the dog to keep his legs stretched as much as he could before Commencement. Even locked in and not going out to purge, this night always seemed to last forever.

They moved out of the city and went further North – into a mountain town that wasn’t exactly a fast-paced metropolis. With the money they had taken for themselves on their one – and only – Purge night, Jon and Sansa bought themselves a house nestled on their four acres of land, in the woods – all state-of-the-art and top-of-the-line security, of course. Jon still worked for SafelySafe and there was no way his family wasn’t going to have the best of the best; especially when money really wasn’t that much of an issue for them.

Even living in a small town like this, in the middle of nowhere like this, Purge night still reached them here. Two years ago, someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail into the mayor’s house, burning it to the ground. The mayor’s wife and son had been able to get out but the mayor had died. Everyone knew that it had been the guy who was running against him in the election but everyone pretended like they _didn’t_ know.

Most though, if they wanted to do some serious purging, they headed out to the larger towns or the city. Still, Jon and Sansa felt as safe as they possibly could feel in their house in the woods with no one around.

As they neared the edge of town, heading back in the direction of home, Jon stopped at the full gas/service station and tied Ghost’s leash around the bike rack next to the front doors.

“Be right back,” he promised his dog and Ghost obediently sat.

The bell tinkled over his head as Jon stepped inside. It was an old building with wood floors and wood shelves painted white. He headed to the back coolers and helped himself to a bottle of Dr. Pepper. He loved that this place actually sold soda bottles. Sometimes, coming in here, Jon swore like he was stepping back in time.

Theon Greyjoy owned the place and he was behind the counter now, smiling as Jon came his way.

“You’re still open,” Jon then stated the obvious. He set the bottle down and then grabbed a stick of beef jerky – a treat for Ghost – and a Reese’s peanut butter cup – a treat for Sansa.

“Closing up at five,” Theon gave a nod as he began ringing everything up. “I think I’m going to head into the city tonight. I’ve never been… you purged before, right? Any advice? Tonight would be my first time.”

“Some advice would be to not go into the city tonight,” Jon said as casually as he could. It was Theon’s right, though, to purge and Jon wasn’t the sort to take – or try to – anyone’s rights away.

Theon grinned at that as if Jon had just told some great joke. “On this night, when I was younger, my buddies and I would play mailbox baseball or throw firecrackers at people. We broke into a place like this and cleaned them out of beer and cigarettes and lottery tickets. I’ve never done anything more than that though.”

“Can I ask why you want to this year?” Jon asked, handing him some money. It didn’t make sense to him. If a person had no reason to be out tonight, _why_ be out?

Theon shrugged. “Just want to experience it, I guess.”

Jon gave a nod, keeping his thoughts to himself. Giving an opinion this close to commencement was not something to do. Even though he knew Theon and came here to his service station often, and Jon actually considered him a friend, no one really knew anyone when it came to the purge. Maybe he would give his opinion and Theon would be so insulted by it, or angry, he would try to do something tonight because of that opinion.

“Good luck and be safe,” Jon said instead.

“You, too,” Theon gave one last smile as Jon headed out the door.

Outside again, Jon unknotted Ghost’s leash and they continued on their way. Once they were far past the town, Jon leaned over and unhooked the leash from Ghost’s collar so he could roam a bit more freely. The dog trotted in front of him as they walked along the side of the road, the woods growing on either side of them. All Jon could hear were the birds and the cold breeze blowing through the naked tree branches. Jon loved that he couldn’t hear anything else.

At the front gate, Ghost ran ahead, knowing that they were now home and Jon stopped to make sure the gate closed behind them, firmly in place. He then typed the code on the pad, listening to the beep and watching the light turn from green to red. He then followed after Ghost up the long, curving driveway.

Ghost was waiting for him on the front porch and Jon climbed the two steps to the front door, unlocking it and letting them both in.

The instant they both found this house, Jon and Sansa instantly fell in love with it. It wasn’t a typical cabin – it was more modern in its set-up with large windows, cathedral ceilings and steps leading in and out of rooms. There was also a large outdoor porch outside of the kitchen that overlooked mountains and the woods and that porch led to another, separate one-room building that served as Sansa’s office. She had started a charity organization that took store’s surplus of clothes and worked with various shelters to distribute those clothes to those truly in need – homeless, abuse victims, recovering addicts, etc.

The living room was sunken and after untying and taking off his boots and hanging up his coat in the closet, Jon left the hall and stepped down the two steps into the room.

The television was on – muted on the evening news, it currently showing footage of Purge preparations all over the country – but no one was in there, watching it. The living room was open and looked into the open kitchen and Jon instantly saw his wife and son. Sansa was standing at the stove, stirring something in a pot, and their son, Shawn, was sitting on a stool at the counter, swinging his legs back and forth as he ate something from one of his plastic bowls.

“Daddy!” Shawn beamed and pointed his fork at him, a piece of macaroni still stabbed at the end of it.

“Hey, buddy,” Jon smiled and gave his kiss on the a head.

He then came around to do the same to Sansa – kissing her on the temple and then bending down, kissing her pregnant belly. She was mixing a much larger helping of macaroni and cheese for them.

She read his mind then because she smiled. “I also have chicken Kiev and green beans and I made fresh biscuits,” she let him know. Jon kissed her on the head again before showing her the Reese’s he had bought her. Her smile grew. “How is it out there?” She asked as he went to the refrigerator, putting his Dr. Pepper away and taking out the carton of milk.

“Quiet. People getting ready. Theon is heading into the city tonight.”

“Why?” Her eyes widened a little at that. Since moving here, Theon had become a friend and he and his wife, Jeyne, would often come over for barbecues in the warmer months. She _never_ would look at him and think that he was someone would want to go out on Purge night – especially into the city.

Jon poured more milk into Shawn’s cup. “Just wanted to see what it was like.”

“Idiot,” Sansa muttered to herself with a shake of her head and continued stirring the mac and cheese.

The oven beeped and Jon went to go fetch the chicken Kiev from inside.

Neither he or Sansa ever talked about their Purge night five years earlier. As far as Jon was concerned, there was no reason to ever talk about it. Sometimes, one would wake up in the middle night, breathing heavily and sweating and the other would wake up as well to hold them as they calmed down again. There were support groups for Purge night survivors and Jon knew that Sansa had gone to more than a few over the years but she never told him, specifically, that she was going and Jon didn’t think she wanted him to ask about it so he didn’t.

The morning after _that_ Purge, they went back to her apartment. Sansa hooked up the espresso machine and began making them coffee as Jon took it upon himself to pull Harry and Margaery’s bodies out and place them in the hallway. Sansa called her parents – who had been frantic the entire night because she hadn’t showed up yesterday when she was supposed to and then Robb’s cell to see if he and Arya were alright and how Beth was. Jon then called Sam and Gilly. Sam had gotten Jon’s message and the pair had gone across the hall to Pyp’s apartment for the night. The candy girls hadn’t even been able to get into their building’s lobby.

Sansa placed a call in with the body pickup department and then had gotten her name on the (long) list for a cleaning surface to come clean the blood stains from the carpets and patch the bullet holes in the wall.

Then, finally, they sat down on the couch with their cups of coffee and talked.

And talked.

And talked some more. They had killed together, had sex together and had stolen together, but now, they were finally getting to know one another.

Six months later, they were engaged and before the next year’s Purge, they were married.

They kept their wealth to themselves; even from their family and friends. They told Ned and Catelyn Stark but that was because they were Sansa’s parents – she trusted and loved them more than anyone (after Jon) – and she wanted them to know how she and Jon met and what happened to them that night.

“I’m glad you killed him because if you hadn’t, I would have done it,” Ned had said without mincing words.

Sansa gave her parents the cash she had taken from the safe – for them and for them to split among their four other children as they thought was appropriate. Sansa was _not_ getting tangled with her siblings in regards to money. Few things could tear a family apart faster than money and Sansa trusted her parents to be able to handle it fairly.

Jon set the table and Shawn laughed as Jon picked him up, setting him at the table with his bowl of macaroni and cheese and cup of milk, and Jon gave him a grin, kissing him on the head. Shawn was a mini-Jon with his dark gray eyes and black curly hair. He even had Jon’s grin with his eyes crinkling at the corners. Sansa joked that their son would be sporting a full beard as soon as he hit puberty.

Sansa brought the food to the table and Jon looked out the windows. The sun was creeping further beneath the trees and he looked to the watch on his wrist. Still an hour-and-a-half to go but there was no reason to wait until the last possible minute like so many other people seemed to like to do on this night of all nights.

“Ghost, do you have to go out one more time?” Jon asked but the dog was staring up at Sansa around as she began separating the food onto hers and Jon’s plate and not listening to Jon’s question. Jon and Sansa then looked at one another. “I’m going to lock down.”

Sansa was silent as she nodded her head and Jon could see that she had become noticeably paler.

Jon went to the front door once more and flipped down the cover to the code pad. Working with the security system company, and with their funds, this system was the best of the best and because Jon had installed it _without_ the pound key override – he never knew who knew that information – it was pretty much impossible to break. Jon hit the four digit code and on the screen he had that was split, showing different parts of the house and property, he watched as the steel walls began coming down over every window and door of their home. The fence’s motion detectors were also activated.

  
Shawn sat, holding his cup of milk with both hands and watching as the steel came down, landing firmly in place with quiet bangs and bolts of locks being turned. Sansa bent over and kissed the boy on his head.

“Safe and tight,” Sansa said.

“Safe and tight,” Shawn echoed.

This time, Sansa bent down fully and squeezed her arms around him in the tightest hug she could.

…

After dinner, they cleaned up the kitchen and Jon then took Shawn up to get him bathed and in his pajamas. Once he was tucked into bed, Sansa came into the bedroom, now in her own pajamas and ready for bed. It was still only six-thirty but with the steel over all of the doors and windows, that didn’t matter. With their lights on, it very well could have been midnight outside.

“You have the best dreams tonight, Shawn,” Jon said, kissing him on the head. “I love you.”

“I love you, daddy,” Shawn smiled up at him and Jon smiled, too.

Sansa helped him get situated under the covers in his little bed and then set herself down on the side of it.

She gave him her own smile. “We’ll have chocolate chip pancakes tomorrow morning,” she promised. “Does that sound good?”

“So good,” the boy nodded eagerly and Sansa laughed.

She hated that this was the world he had been born into but there wasn’t anything she or Jon could do about it. A world with the Purge once a year _was_ the world and it couldn’t be ignored. All they could do was shelter him and keep him safe as much as they possibly could (and raise him to know that purging wasn’t what they did and they didn’t want that for him either).

And it wasn’t even cut and dry like that because the Purge was something so horrible and yet… yet…

She met the love of her life on Purge night.

“Daddy and me will be downstairs if you need us,” she reminded him. They usually stayed up all night on this night – just in case. Shawn nodded. She leaned down and kissed his head. “I love you so, so much.”

“I love you, too,” he smiled and she kissed his head again. “Good night, Henry,” he then patted his mama’s belly and Sansa laughed.

“Henry tonight? Last night, it was Bert.”

“I like Henry,” Shawn said, adjusting himself and getting comfortable.

Sansa smiled as she reached for the headphones on the bottom shelf of his nightstand and looked at the iPod to see that the classical music playlist was ready to go. “I really like Henry, too,” she decided and Shawn just absolutely beamed at that. She put the headphones on his head and fixed them over his ears. She hit play on the first song and made sure the volume wasn’t _too_ loud. “Good?”

Shawn nodded and gave her a thumbs up. Sansa kissed his head one more time and stood up. She lingered in the doorway, turning off the light, his nightlight glowing, and she watched her son, his eyes already closed, going to sleep without a care in the world. As it should be.

  
She finally left and headed down the stairs into the living room. Jon was changed in his pajamas and was on the couch, Ghost next to him and Jon scratching his ear. A shotgun was on the other side of Ghost – just in case. Jon turned his head and gave her a smile, Sansa returning it with a small one of her own. She lowered herself next to him and Jon’s hand instantly went to rest on her knee as she propped her feet up on the coffee table in front of them.

“He asleep?” Jon asked.

“Heading that way. His headphones are on so he won’t hear the sirens. I’m sure he’ll wake up around two or three tonight,” she guessed. Jon nodded his head and rubbed her knee.

“Are you okay?” He then asked.

“I hate tonight,” she said the biggest understatement possible.

“Me, too.” He held up a tablet so Sansa could see that he was watching their security cameras on the screen. He’d be watching them all night. “Just twelve hours and then we’re done until next year.”

Sansa nodded and sank down a little further into the couch so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

“Just twelve hours,” she echoed and Jon kissed her head. He set the tablet down on his lap so his hand could slide over her belly and rest there. “And just three more months for this one.”

“Three more months,” it was Jon’s turn to repeat.

The television suddenly flipped over to the government announcement and the familiar woman’s voice began to speak the words she said every year.

“ _This is not a test. This is your Emergency Broadcast System. Announcing the commencement of the annual purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class four and lower have been authorized for use during the purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. when the purge concludes. Blessed be our new founding fathers and America… A nation reborn. May God be with you all.”_

And then the sirens began to blare. Even from their house in the woods, Jon and Sansa could hear them, blaring over the sound system in town, and Jon picked up the tablet screen once more, looking to their cameras.

“Safe and tight,” Jon said and that made Sansa smile, nestling closer to him.

“Safe and tight.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so much to those who read and commented on this one! I got this idea when I was watching "Purge: Anarchy" and imagining Jon in his backyard, playing with his kid, and his next door neighbor asks him for some Purge night advice. And from that brief idea, this story came and I still can't believe that this story was read and actually liked.


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